You’ve heard of Chipotle, right? The chain has made a lot of headlines for the quality of its food and its progressive company ethics.
But still, you might not have heard of it. If there’s something Northern Santa Barbara County has plenty of—besides strawberries, of course—it’s Mexican food, so I’d understand if yet another burrito place in a region saturated with burrito places didn’t land on your radar.
Really, though, you’ve probably heard of it. Chipotle is a national force at this point, serving up chicken, beef, salsa, and tortillas in the sorts of combinations in which those ingredients tend to find themselves. You’ve got burritos, tacos, salads with chips—that sort of thing. Ring a bell?
I guess I’m saying that you might know this joint, or you might not. It’s not as ubiquitous or storied as McDonald’s, but it’s got more advertising power than your local madre-y-padre hole in the wall.
Come to think of it, you might have heard of Chipotle because of a story the Sun’s sister paper, New Times, published in its July 17 issue. That piece might not be the sort of publicity the restaurant is looking for, though.
See, a former manager—African American Janeka Samuels—is suing the company in part because of what she says was racial discrimination she suffered under the management of white Ben DeBilzan.
Her allegations are appalling, and I don’t mean that the fact that she’s accusing her own former manager of despicable behavior is a bad thing. I mean what she’s saying he did is appalling. Her allegations include an account of him saying he’d hang her from a sign if she asked for a break, referencing the miniseries Roots. She paints a picture of repeated verbal abuse and torment, which goes far beyond anything I’d expect to hear coming out of corporate culture in today’s United States.
The writers at our sister paper have received a lot of feedback on the piece, pretty much universally in support of Janeka and New Times’ coverage. I heard that one person strongly complained about my counterpart columnist, the Shredder, mentioning Chipotle as New Times readers’ favorite burrito, which seems like a valid point (San Luis Obispo has a lot of locally owned Mexican restaurants, too), but also seems way off the mark when it comes to stuff to get upset about in regard to this story.
A woman says she cried after being told to always remember that she’s black in a white town, and the outrage being mustered centers on the belief that fans of generic “Mexican” food should go to Taco Bell if they don’t want a more authentic experience? Priorities, man. Priorities.
Anyway, I bring up this whole story because the accused regional manager’s territory apparently includes Santa Maria. This city, as you know, is only a short drive away from San Luis Obispo, where African American people make up only 1.2 percent of the population. Hispanic people represent 14.7 percent of SLO’s population, while whites are the bulk of the city, weighing in at 84.5 percent.
Santa Maria doesn’t have much more in the way of African American residents—they make up 1.7 percent of the population—but Hispanic residents number 70.4 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s state budget predicted that this is the year Hispanics will become the largest racial/ethnic group in the state.
None of this demographic fact-listing means one thing or another, however, in terms of racism implied, carried out, alleged, or harbored. I mention it only to show the environment in which these allegations—corroborated by other witnesses—first surfaced.
I listed the demographics of these two cities where Chipotle has a presence on the Central Coast because while I believe that people can say and do hurtful things to someone else based solely on that person’s appearance, I have a hard time understanding how such behavior can survive in this changing world.
So what if San Luis Obispo is overwhelmingly white? That’s no excuse for small-mindedness. The city has a lack of diversity that doesn’t square with the rest of the state, but that doesn’t mean it’s a place where Janeka isn’t welcome.
Taco Bell militants aside, I’ve been encouraged by the responses I’ve heard coming out of this city to the north of my hometown. Janeka has filed a suit because of one voice, but I’ve heard far more voices raised in support of her—in support of diversity and equality—in the days since.
That gives me hope for all of us, even bright yellow canaries like myself.
The Canary prefers to get her Mexican food from a street cart. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2014.