Wisconsin
Related: About this forum"Cooking trumps Racism" - Penzeys Spices owner Bill Penzey, Jr. speaks out
Penzeys Spices is a successful and respected Wisconsin based company. I've spent a bag of money buying from them through mail order and in the stores over the years. Great quality spices. The main points went out via email, and here is the follow-up on facebook.
"...You really are a good bunch, but you just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago. Make this right. Take ownership for what you have done and begin the pathway forward."
PENZEYS SPICES·THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2016
Racism Update: At Penzeys we believe it's not the use of tools that set us on a different path from the rest of the animal world; what has set humanity in motion is cooking. In our nearly a million years gathered together around the fire, cooking shaped our bodies and transformed our minds. Cooking unlocked our potential and gave birth to reason, to religion, and to politics and government. The kindness of tens of thousands of generations of cooks created our humanity, but racism, sexism, and homophobia can all very quickly unravel all the goodness cooking puts out into the world. As the voice of cooks, we will never sit idly by while that happens.
You may have read Tuesdays Nights email. In it I said: "The open embrace of racism by the Republican Party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades. The American people are taking notice. Let's commit to giving the people a better choice. Our kindness really is our strength."
Since I ask you to read my emails, I feel it's only right that I read each of your replies. In sifting through those replies it was clear that, though not intended, a good number of people seemed to sincerely believe in my statement I was calling all Republicans racists. In the emails of those Republicans who voted for someone other than the party's nominee, I sensed genuine pain at having the strength of character to not go along with what was happening, but nonetheless be grouped in with those who were. I apologize for writing something that caused you pain; that is not the person I want to be. You are your party's future, and you deserve my admiration and respect, and your country's as well.
For the rest of you, you just voted for an openly racist candidate for the presidency of the United States of America. In your defense, most of you did so without thinking of the consequences of your candidate's racism because, for most of you the heartbreaking destruction racism causes has never been anything you or your loved ones have had to experience. But the thing is elections have their consequences. This is no longer sixty years ago. Whether any of us like it or not, for the next four years the 80% of this country who did not just vote for an openly racist candidate are going to treat you like you are the kind of person who would vote for an openly racist candidate.
You can get angry at everyone else for treating you like you just did the thing you just did, or you can take responsibility for your actions and begin to make amends. If you are lucky and younger family members are still coming over for Thanksgiving, before it's too late, take a moment and honestly think about how your actions must look through their eyes. Simply saying "I never thought he'd win" might be enough. But if you have the means, leaving a receipt from a sizable donation to the ACLU or the SPLC accidentally laying around where you carve the turkey, might go over even better.
Or, just do what you do best and volunteer. Through our customers' support, we've given away a lot of our Penzeys Pepper, the Pepper with heart. More often than not, those we meet cooking and serving food to feed those in need are Republicans. You really are a good bunch, but you just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago. Make this right. Take ownership for what you have done and begin the pathway forward.
Penzys' facebook post link
news story on WKOW
radical noodle
(8,000 posts)I'll buy some of their spices just because of his courage.
TygrBright
(20,759 posts)And fine customer service.
https://www.penzeys.com/
Their spices and herbs and blends are always fresh and well-packaged.
So, yeah, if you have any cooks/bakers on your gift-giving list, this is a win.
helpfully,
Bright
radical noodle
(8,000 posts)My husband loves to cook and I know will love their spices!
TygrBright
(20,759 posts)Please cross-post this in the C&B forum?
Penzeys are loved there, too.
appreciatively,
Bright
lutefisk
(3,974 posts)Can't seem to find it...
TygrBright
(20,759 posts)I cross-posted it there.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)at charity dinners and homeless programs over many years. We have agreed on maybe half the local political stuff that's come up.
Republicans are not the enemy-- extremist Republicans are the problem.
Croney
(4,660 posts)I'm out of my favorite Penzeys seasoning blend, it's called "Forward." I will go there today and buy holiday gifts as well.
ewagner
(18,964 posts)three or four years ago and we have purchased them for ourselves and as gifts for other family members since then.
It does my heart good to know that Bill Penzy is the kind of Republican that we could all appreciate and with whom we could reason.
I'll continue to purchase his products.
lutefisk
(3,974 posts)This update is from yesterday. Good to see someone taking a stand (and putting his company on the line), not backing down, and getting support from so many people:
I also want to thank you for the tremendous support from all our customers across the country. The incredibly written emails to me, the support on our Facebook page, the defense of Penzeys in comment sections across the internetall of it has meant so incredibly much to me. After so many of the far-right media world encouraged their supporters to send their anger at me, I have to admit that I really had never been so insulted in all my life, and I have a history of getting out there on the internet. Without your incredible outpouring of support, I am sure the results for me would have been very different. I am forever in your debt. Thank you...