Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 17:52:04 -0400 From: RAKNGLTF@AOL.COM To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: KFC Op-Ed by Pam McMichael FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 1995 Contact: Pam McMichael (502) 896-2070 [The following Op Ed was written by Pam McMichael of SONG, Southerners on New Ground, an organization working to build allies connecting race, class, gender and sexual orientation. McMichael lives in Louisville and was born and raised in rural Kentucky.] NO WISHBONE FOR THE COLONEL: BLACK AND GAY ACTIVISTS REFUSE TO BE SPLIT OVER KFC BATTLE Louisville, KY - The strategy of the radical right to exploit and deepen any division between the African American and gay/lesbian/bisexual communities leaves many white gay activists scratching their heads wondering how to build cross-racial alliances. Take heart. The cooperative work of the Justice Resource Center, a group of ministers and civil rights activists, and the Fairness Campaign, Louisville's organization working to end anti-gay discrimination, offers hope and a model for action. Both groups have stood united to challenge discrimination at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Justice Resource Center, led by Rev. Louis Coleman, started KFC protests due to lack of African American managers in the corporate-owned Kentucky stores. The protests broadened when an African American former KFC manager, Denise Bentley, told her story of being instructed (but refusing) to fire a gay employee. Ms. Bentley shared this story at a protest last winter in front of a diverse group of people -- black and white, straight and gay, Christian and Muslim. The struggle against KFC is a tremendous opportunity to build allies, not from a perspective of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," but from seeing the intrinsic connection of unequal treatment based on race and sexual orientation, and in forming a united effort to wage the struggle for justice. The Fairness Campaign has refused suggestions to talk with KFC without the lead of the Justice Resource Center. "Such action," notes Fairness Campaign Co-coordinator Carla Wallace, "would be planting our flag on someone else's work." Supporting an anti-racist effort without splintering off to be concerned only with the 'gay issue' is an important example the Fairness Campaign offers the broader gay equality work. The Fairness Campaign recently went through its own battle for an anti-discrimination ordinance, which was supported by civil rights leaders and members of the African American community. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) garnered wider gay attention to the charges of discrimination with a March 21 release "Anti-Racism Protesters Joined by Gay Rights Activists to Picket Fast Food Chain." In response to NGLTF's release, gay activists from across the country called KFC. They were told that KFC's personnel policy bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, and further, that charges of discrimination are a hoax and that people are being misled by 'fringe elements of the Louisville community.' Some gay and gay-friendly callers backed off KFC when hearing the company has sexual orientation in their EEO policies. Additionally, some calls to the Fairness office from gay press posed the question why Fairness was still concerned about KFC since the company has a policy providing protection based on sexual orientation. Such questions presuppose that racial discrimination is not a gay issue, as if 'we've got ours what does the rest matter.' What opportunities for alliance building are missed if white gay activists settle for a report concerning gays and do not also insist on equal and fair treatment of African American employees as well? These questions also assume that having a personnel policy inclusive of sexual orientation ensures non- discrimination. How is that policy communicated to managers? What sensitivity training is provided? How does that policy apply to employees in cities, including Louisville, without anti-discrimination ordinances that protect lesbian, gay and bisexual workers? KFC has responded to the charges of discrimination by aggressively attacking the credibility of Rev. Coleman and Ms. Bentley. This has resulted in confusion among some gay activists about whom to believe, KFC or Louisville activists. The question of who is or isn't a credible and respected leader of the Louisville African American community should come from people in the Louisville African American community itself, not Kentucky Fried Chicken. Rev. Coleman is a long-time civil rights leader, highly respected in Louisville and the region by friend and foe alike. Discriminating employers, including corporate giants, do not like to gain his attention. When the Fairness non-discrimination ordinance was being reintroduced, Rev. Coleman was specifically mentioned by co-sponsoring Aldermen as one whose support mattered to them. Rev. Coleman was also honored for his long-standing and unflappable commitment to justice at a Unity Dinner with 250 people on the evening of April 1. The dinner included representatives from numerous civic, religious and social change organizations and also official representatives bearing proclamations from city of Louisville Mayor Jerry E. Abramson and Kentucky 3rd Congressional District Representative Mike Ward. Further, the April 1 edition of the Courier Journal reported a previous day meeting of Rev. Coleman and White House aide George Stephanopoulos, where Rev. Coleman delivered a petition signed by 3,000 Kentuckians regarding support for affirmative action. Honored by a Mayor, saluted by a Congressman and 250 community leaders, received by the White House - these are not indications of a "fringe element." Denise Bentley is also a Board member of the Justice Resource Center and testified before the Board of Aldermen during a recent public hearing concerning the Fairness non-discrimination ordinance. Remembering being secured to a sled as a child and pulled by her mother during open housing marches, Ms. Bentley speaks of her mother's influence fighting for civil rights and going to jail with Dr. King. "This is about what you do out of your heart. It's changing the wrong." It is unfortunate that KFC's response to charges of discrimination is to attack the messengers and attempt to divide communities. But the battle continues. Anti-racist activists, supported by leaders and members of the Fairness Campaign, turned up the pressure on Kentucky Fried Chicken with a city-wide protest Saturday, April 1. Teams of protesters at most of the 23 area corporate stores distributed leaflets and asked potential customers to buy their chicken elsewhere until KFC resolves problems of discrimination. Two hundred people were turned away from purchasing KFC chicken in the two-hour period of the action. If KFC is as dedicated to the equal opportunity their own correspondence claims, why have they remained silent throughout the four-year effort of the Fairness Campaign to secure passage of anti-discrimination legislation? Why have they been particularly silent during the recent gay rights ordinance before the Louisville Board of Aldermen despite ever growing and broad-based support for that legislation? The ordinance was sadly defeated on March 28th, and 23 community activists were arrested in city hall in resistance to the Aldermen's sanction of oppression. KFC denies any racial or anti-gay discrimination, but activists would be ill advised to stop the scrutiny until the matter has been resolved with Louisville organizations. Alliances are built by reciprocity, by supporting the lead work of an organization and not trying to take over, by refusing to be splintered on a single issue, and by the mutual respect developed from being on the line together as people build face-to-face relationships. This real work is going on in Louisville, helping to build movement and true change. # # #