Photo Credit: Rainchill
Ikea had a bit of a PR problem last week at least at one Georgia location where employees took to the parking lot protesting a dinner celebrating Juneteenth. But it wasn’t that the date was being commemorated, it was what was served. Fried chicken and watermelon struck the wrong chord and the Atlanta employees weren’t having it.
“To honor the perseverance of Black Americans and acknowledge the progress yet to be made, we observe Juneteenth on Saturday, June 19, 2021” is what an email that was sent to employees said. “Look out for a special menu on Saturday which will include: fried chicken, watermelon, mac n cheese, potato salad, collard greens, candied yams,” the message continued.
“You cannot say serving watermelon on Juneteenth is a soul food menu when you don’t even know the history — they used to feed slaves watermelon during the slavery time,” one employee told CBS.
The manager of the Atlanta location responded saying, “I truly apologize if the menu came off as subjective. It was created with the best of intentions by a few of our coworkers who believed they were representing their culture and tradition with these foods of celebration.”
Then Ikea as a company apologized saying, “In addition to offering Juneteenth as one of our paid holidays nationally, our IKEA Atlanta store has recognized Juneteenth with our co-workers for the past four years. To honor the day, a lunch menu was created with the best of intentions, including recommendations from Black co-workers,” an IKEA spokesperson tells PEOPLE. “We value our co-workers’ voices and changed the menu after receiving feedback that the foods that were selected are not reflective of the deeply meaningful traditional foods historically served as part of Juneteenth celebrations.”
“We got it wrong and we sincerely apologize,” they continued. “We are committed to educating ourselves and putting a process in place that will allow us to thoughtfully honor Juneteenth in the future.”
And all of this came about after President Biden declared Juneteenth a holiday last Thursday. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery which occurred 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Next time we would suggest speaking to the black employees and asking them what they would like versus making a decision for them. Just saying.
