Obama Fried Chicken
Categories: DiGregorio, Featured
Last week, a fried chicken joint in Brownsville, Brooklyn, changed its name from Royal Fried Chicken to Obama Fried Chicken, a name some find inappropriate or even racist. It's true that fried chicken spots with grandiose presidential names are not unheard of--think of all those Kennedy Fried Chickens!--but the juxtaposition of an African American president and fried chicken touches a nerve.
The owner is a recent immigrant from Bangladesh, who likely doesn't know the loaded historical context that he's stirred up--and who might represent a change in neighborhood demographics that complicates feelings even more. Because of the uproar, the owner says he'll soon change the name again, this time to Popular Fried Chicken.
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