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A decorative table with a photo showing two black men being lynched by a mob in Texas has been removed from Joe’s Crab Shack in Roseville after the Minneapolis NAACP called a press conference outside the chain restaurant Thursday afternoon.
The NAACP says last night two African American diners, Tyrone Williams and Chauntyll Allen were about to eat at the restaurant when they spotted the photo embedded inside of a customized table. The caption next to one of the black lynching victims read “All I said was that I didn’t like the gumbo.”
After googling the names of one of the lynching victims in the picture and finding out that the photo was indeed legitimate, Williams and Allen contacted the restaurant manager who apologized.
“This type of blatant racism should not be tolerated in this country, or in our local or national eating establishments,” Williams said in a statement released by the Minneapolis NAACP.
“Seeing a picture of two black men being lynched was the last thing I expected to see at what was supposed to be a family-friendly restaurant,” said Allen in the same NAACP press release. “It’s hard to believe that this type of racism is still going on in 2016.”
The Minneapolis NAACP is demanding an immediate apology from the corporate offices of Joe’s Crab Shack, an immediate removal of any racial-offensive imagery from its restaurants in Minnesota and around the world, and a donation to a local community-based organization that serves African American youths and teens.
A manager at the restaurant told The UpTake that the offending table has been removed and the information about the incident has been passed along to corporate offices.
“This disturbing incident that occurred at Joe’s Crab Shack, demonstrates that racism is alive and well in this country,” said Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds. “It is sickening to know that someone would make a mockery of black men being savagely lynched and then use that imagery for decorative purposes in a restaurant.” Th local manager declined to appear on camera, but he did confirm that the matter has been referred to Joe's national management.