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In 2020, Chick-fil-A’s CEO Said White People Should Shine Black People’s Shoes

In 2020, Chick-fil-A’s CEO Said White People Should Shine Black People’s Shoes

A three-year-old video resurfaced last week showing former Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy shining Lecrae’s shoes during a plea for white people to fight racial injustice. The video came back to life amid outraged conservatives calling for others to boycott the fast-food chain over its recent “woke hiring” of a diversity officer.

In the video, Cathy gets on his knees to shine Lecrae’s shoes while speaking at a roundtable discussion at Passion City Church in Atlanta in June 2020, in the midst of protests over the police-involved deaths of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor.

“I invite folks to put some words to action, and if we need to find somebody who needs to have their shoes shined, we need to just go right on over and shine their shoes,” Cathy said. “Whether they got tennis shoes or not, maybe they’ve got sandals, it really doesn’t matter.”

Cathy’s actions came after several Chick-fil-A branches in Atlanta were smashed up during Black Lives Matter protests.

“We’ve had a dozen Chick-fil-A restaurants that have been vandalized in the past week, but my plea would be for the white people rather than point fingers at that kind of criminal effort would be to see the level of frustration and exasperation and almost the sense of hopelessness that exists among some of those activists within the African American community,” Cathy said.

“We’ve got a real bad situation, and we don’t need to let this moment miss us. It has to hurt us,” he continued. “As Caucasians, until we’re willing to pick up the baton and fight for our black African American brothers and sisters – which they are as one human race. We’re shameful. We’re just adding to it. Our silence is so huge this time. We cannot be silent. Someone has to fight.”

Cathy’s 2020 comments are getting noticed again amid the conservative social media uproar over Chick-fil-A naming Erick McReynolds its senior executive in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Chick-fil-A is the latest company to find itself in the crosshairs of furious conservatives calling for boycotts of popular companies, including Bud Light and Target, for policies they feel are too socially progressive.

“What a pity that Chick-fil-A is going woke hiring a diversity and equality person for the company,” one user wrote. “See ya Chick-fil-A. You went woke now go broke!”

“DEI = you’re on board with woke. Is that the message you are trying to signal?” one user asked.

 

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