Danny Trejo’s Classic Fish Tacos

Hi Joanna, your question has been reverberating in my mind for the past few hours. You seem genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives, so I’d like to chime with mine, in case it adds value. I hear in your question a desire to believe in our ability to change, grow, improve. I hear your desire to not partake in shut-down-all-lines-of-communication cancel culture. I think there is necessity in the former and value in the latter. However, I also think change and healing requires both radical honesty and time.

While dropping off a package at the post office today, I witnessed the following: The white male customer in front of me asked the black female staff for tape, to which she replied “I’m sorry, sir, we are no longer allowed to give customers tape.” (I can personally attest to this change in USPS policy from a few years ago, as it’s sent me on an embarrassing number of dashes to Target.) What happened next jolted me, even though I am not a black woman, nor was I the target of the vitriol. The customer began berating her in a booming voice: “What does that cost you, 3 cents? 5 cents? Just give it to me. You clearly don’t want to work. This is basic customer service etc. …” I would call this straight up aggression, though this is just one of countless “micro”-aggression many BIPOC people experience regularly. As you can perhaps imagine, absorbing, processing, and healing from these kinds of experiences requires time and the knowledge that there is safety, i.e. sustained change.

Going back to this discussion of Manrepeller. In my perspective, though the founder has stepped down to take a position “in the sidelines,” the change that the company is committing to is … vague. So, my recommendation is that you give them time to reflect and regroup. In the meantime, maybe reach out (especially if you already have a relationship or shared network) to their staff and offer to be a sounding board of how to build inclusivity back into the business DNA. Even more importantly, invest your time in sourcing and spotlighting the many incredible BIPOC women bloggers in the same space of fashion/lifestyle who have not had even half the chance to have a seat at the table.

Thank you for reading.

I’ve been following the MR controversy, and I agree that their initial response and then the follow up has been quite vague and non committal. I saw comments from the previous staff, and there has been deafening silence on some of the issues raised (in particular around letting go staff that were BIPOC at the start of coronavirus, and seemingly not white staff). However, it is worse bearing in mind that if there is an issue with their hiring / firing practices, there could be HR / legal consequences so they, and former employees, may not be in a position to publicly disclose what happened