What the hell is going on in the world? I was on Yelp the other day looking for the phone number to my favorite espresso shop Culture. (I'm kind of hooked on their chocolate chip cookies) But anyway, as I'm on the Culture page on Yelp I see out the corner of my eye the add for a "Free Tiger Ghetto Iced Tea". I immediately though this was a joke and actually felt like I was transported to facebook for a second. Of course I had to click on the link to see what this was all about. The Iced Tea was on the menu for a restaurant called Beacon in midtown Manhattan. I immediately called over two of my other co-workers (of color) to investigate. One called up the restaurant to inquire about this free offer and asked "what exactly is the Tiger Ghetto Iced Tea." The woman who answered the phone simply replied "It's our take on the Arnold Palmer."
We Said
So because Tiger is a golfer you throw his name into the mix? Because he's black (which he would question himself) you call it a "Ghetto" Iced Tea? Or maybe they just think it's "ghetto" to put lemonade and iced tea together. In my opinion the ghetto is a place not an action. Calling actions or describing something as ghetto to me is lazy and offensive. First of all my people in Baltimore will agree with me that we call it a half and half (half lemonade half iced tea). Hell even Nantucket Nectars got it right. This restaurant is just being stupid. What sucks is that the owner of this restaurant also owns my favorite pizza place in the city Waldys. What also sucks is that somebody thought this was clever.
It's wild that this happens and my latest entry into the Japanese Magazine I contribute to BMR was about the word ghetto. If your in Japan or read Japanese, check it out and see what my partner in scribe Motoko and I have to say about the word.
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