A barbecue restaurant has decided to hold a "White Appreciation Day"—no, it's not in Indiana. The Latino owners of Milliken, Colorado's Rubbin' Butts BBQ originally started it as a joke. However, owner Edgar Antillon decided to make it real, giving white customers 10 percent off on June 11, "because all Americans should be celebrated."
Obviously, people are calling this racist—activists are saying the whole reason we have things like "Black History Month" is because most things focus on white people, anyway. A Colorado civil rights activist told the local NBC affiliate that "It's wrong. If you're going to give a discount, give it to the whole community," which makes little sense—that reasoning would nix all "appreciation" days or discounts.
"We have a whole month for Black History Month. We have a whole month for Hispanic Heritage Month. So we figured the least we could do is offer one day to appreciate white Americans," Antillon said. He pointed out that he is a first generation American with Mexican-born parents, so they've experienced their fair share of discrimination.
"We're all American. Plain and simple. Whether you come from a different country or you were born here, we're all American," he said. Whatever his intention, let's agree this probably wasn't the best idea.
