Listener response: You must work hard to overcome racism

Derrick Reese grew up in foster care and group homes around Washington DC. He experienced life as a black youth in a rough area. But he joined the Air Force, earned a college degree, and became an officer. He says this is because he learned a “work hard” mentality. That’s what he owes his success to.

That’s why he became “incensed” when he heard an interview on KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show with New Orleans Chef Tunde Wey. The chef opened a pop-up restaurant for a month. During that time he had two prices: $12 for minorities; and $30 for white people.

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“I think what struck a chord with me was his thinking was discriminatory itself,” Reese told Dori. “Something he said he was against, he was actually implementing it. I don’t know how we are going to combat racism in this country if we are going to fight it with additional racism.”

“I had a rough life. It wasn’t easy. I worked hard. I busted my butt,” he said. “And I took advantage of the opportunities presented to me to make a better living for myself. That’s why I just had to write in. I wanted at least for you to see that hard work can achieve goals for people of all races. I thought this individual was making an excuse that I didn’t support.”

Wey previously told Dori that the pop-up display was meant to convey a message.

“We served lunch every day,” Chef Wey told Dori. “It was priced at $12. That was the regular price. We asked that folks who self-identified as white to pay a suggested price of $30 which reflects the ratio wage disparity in New Orleans, which is 2.5 times. So folks had the choice to pay the $12 or $30 if they identified as white.”

“The point was to show the burden of cost for lower-resource folks,” he said.

Chef Wey said about 80 percent of white customers chose to pay the $30. He notes that the pop-up restaurant was pointing out wage disparity, not wealth disparity between white people and minorities in his community. For that, he would have to charge white customers $120 (10 times difference).

You can hear Chef Wey’s full conversation with Dori here.

Work hard

Dori says he grew up poor himself, in Ballard. He argues that through his hard work he was able to achieve success. He told Chef Wey this. The response was another thing that rubbed Reese the wrong way.

“You grew up in a poverty situation as well,” he said. “But I believe the chef was claiming that even though that happened, because of you being white, it was insignificant … You worked hard to get to where you are. I worked hard along with a lot of other blacks to get to where we are.”

“From growing up in the Washington D.C. area in group homes and foster homes, that message wasn’t always made clear; that if you really work hard,” Reese said. “I wish it had been, but that wasn’t my reality.”

Reese said he had teachers and other people in his life that stressed the “work hard” message. It eventually took.

“These were people who were of all ethnicities and races …” Reese said. “I was in the Air Force and we only cared about how well you can do your job. Everyone had the same opportunity to exceed. You just had to work extra hard to get there. And the rewards were there.”

“I’m not naive to the fact that I am going to face some sort of –ism in life …” he said. “But that’s not going to stop me from getting out of bed in the morning and doing the best that I can do.”