thanks for posting this maude. here are my thoughts about it. i apologize in advance for any half-formed thoughts. i'm not a writer, and this would make so much more sense in an actual conversation. if any of this comes across as being inarticulate, email me (directly please, not through myspace)

hell, if you really want to have a conversation, call me on skype: aacfilms

now then, the weiner's circle *is* a big joke in chicago, and at some point i stopped laughing. it was probably right after i witnessed the black female staff in fist fights with white female customers several times while passing by late at night. actually, i don't think i was ever laughing, because the so-called gimmick of engaging your customers in "friendly" games of gunnin' has never been amusing or entertaining to me. i don't tolerate someone i know insulting me, so i'm certainly not going to pay for the privilege of having a total stranger do so. i've set foot inside the weiner's circle exactly twice, and my not returning had nothing to do with the food.

on the surface, i suppose the weiner's circle wants people to believe the insults are as harmless as the ones you may encounter at ed debevic's, or at a neighborhood bar where everyone knows everyone else, but you have to wonder where the line of demarcation between "good-natured fun" and pissing someone off is, especially in the context of running a business. how do you know when you go too far when you're dealing with someone you don't know? and more importantly, why even run that risk? i'm not kidding when i say i've seen staff there come from behind the counter and get in fist fights with people, and i once saw one of the female staff holding a chef's knife chase a customer out. the majority of people visiting the weiner's circle know what they may be in for when they step in the place, but i don't get why people want to pay to be insulted. i paid for a hot dog, not for you to call me a bitch or a ho.

the owner's theory about people being "bad" by stumbling in drunk and wanting to be punished is interesting. i'm sure there maybe some folks like that, but let me nerd out a bit and mention occam's razor. essentially, a lot of people go to the weiner's circle knowing they have a place to freely insult someone that probably won't get into a physical fight because they'd probably lose their job. simple, no? throw in the fact that the insults are a-okay, and you've got yourself a fucked up party!

beyond the alleged good-natured insults, there's a critical point about the weiner's circle that is clearly mentioned in the video: it's in a wealthy white neighborhood. to go one step further, all the staff, with the exception of the two white men who own the place, are black. at the risk of stating the obvious, i'll just say it: the owners are doing a brisk business thanks to good old fashioned racism. the insult exchanges with the staff are all part of the business, therefore it's expected and more importantly, accepted and encouraged. mix that with a bunch of drunk white folks, and suddenly it's okay to call the black staff niggers, monkeys, etc., as long as it's said with a smile. because after all, the drunk white boys don't really think the black women are hos, it's all in fun. it's a gimmick, a joke, remember?

while it may not be obvious to those on the aac films friend list, i am indeed black (my profile photo is me 30+ years ago), and i can't even begin to describe how painful and infuriating it was to watch this piece, particularly the second half as the chant for "chocolate milkshake" started. i've been called nigger (and frankly, i don't care how you spell the fucking word or who says it, it still means SLAVE) more than i care to mention, and while i can steel myself to it to a degree, it still makes me want to scream. watching the weiner's circle staff endure the racist comments sends me into a tangle of conflict. on the one hand, i want to smack every single drunken white asshole in the place, but on the other hand i want to shake the staff and make them realize they're being used by 2 white men who are making money not only from allowing their staff to be treated piss-poorly, but banking on their ability to put up with and feed into direct racism, and provide enough of an entertainment draw to keep a large, steady flow of customers. as maude said, it's fucked up.

okay, i could be all pc and say the white men who own the weiner's circle need to be educated and see the error of their ways, and yes, they should, but that's not going to happen. they've been doing business in this manner for more than half of the life of their business. they know what they're doing and the ramifications of it, and they don't care because it makes the bottom line better. after all, business is business, right? right?

wrong. i understand gimmicks, i really do, but racism isn't a gimmick. the "sassy" black female staff are playing right into the stereotype that's expected of them. being living stereotypes, by the way, seems to be a chicago thing. perhaps you could pose the question of which came first, the staff insults or the customer insults, and i know in some minds, the customer surliness can be justified because the staff is rude, but keep in mind that the insult tradition was started by one of the frustrated owners, a white man. drunk white men may insult another white man, but let's face it, ethnicity won't be brought into the fray. he also won't be called a slut, ho, bitch, etc.

generally speaking, the weiner's circle is a typical hot dog stand during the day. the staff aren't overly friendly, but they don't typically insult customers either. this is a night time, particularly late night, phenomenon, when a lot of the customers are completely shitfaced after stumbling out of bars, clubs, and cubs games. keeping that in mind, think about these questions:
- if the staff were all white, would the insults be the same?
- if the staff were all white, would there be insults at all?
- if the staff were white women specifically, what would those insults turn into?

the counter staff at weiner's circle are black women, so in addition to the racism, there's a fair amount of misogyny, and the way women of color, particularly black women, are often regarded as whores by white men in our society. so you see, this isn't even a simple case of racism. racism rarely is.

i figured out early on what the deal with the weiner's circle was, and it's why they don't get my business. as a black person, it pains me to see other black people allowing themselves to be degraded, and then write it off as just being part of the job. if you get the occasional knucklehead coming in and making a racist remark, that's a different situation than being in an environment where not only does it happen almost every night, but is encouraged and considered part of the atmosphere, and i really wish the black folks working there would see it exactly for what it is.

racism won't go away because we *think* it should. i'm not interested in educating ignorant white people, i'm interested on educating people of color, who need to break out of their colonized mindset, and stop excusing racists, but instead challenge them. the late night dumbasses who call you a monkey at the weiner's circle don't do so because they're drunk and don't know what they're saying. they do so because they feel that way, but know when it's not appropriate to say it when sober. wake up folks.

to my sisters and brothers of color, PLEASE stop allowing yourselves to be used in this manner. i understand that you need a job, but please understand that your continuing to work at a place that condones and encourages racism by offering YOU up as a sacrificial lamb to white folks who are allowed to have an outlet for their racism and misogyny at the weiner's circle, sends the clear message that not only is it okay, but YOU'RE okay with it, and it's so obviously and clearly NOT okay. you can do better. WE can do better. we MUST do better.