Friday, November 18, 2016

Bill Penzey: 'Cooking Trumps Racism'

Once again, Bill Penzey is casting aspersions. He trashes the majority of conservatives, and Donald Trump voters in particular, as racist.

Penzeys Spices is supposed to be about "healing the world."

For a self-proclaimed healer, Bill Penzey does a lot of harm.

Penzey shared his thoughts about the election via the Penzeys Spices Facebook page and his newsletter.

I knew this was coming. Of course, Penzey would throw the charge of racism around after Americans voted Donald Trump to be the next president. Calling people racists is like a hobby for him.

He actually labels his latest screed, "Racism Update," as if he's the arbiter.

From Penzeys Spices Facebook page:



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 Tuesday Night’s 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 that 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.

Thanks for reading,

Bill
bill@penzeys.com
Penzey tries to distinguish between Republicans and Trump voters.

Apparently, people took umbrage at his post-election email in which in stated, "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." They complained and Penzey gave the Never Trump Republicans a pass.

Then, he unleashes on over 60 million Americans who did vote for the Republican nominee. Penzey displays an incredible level of arrogance in his comments. His vow to support the harassment of Trump voters as racist enablers is especially disturbing.

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.
Then, he spews out a condescending instruction: "[Y]ou can take responsibility for your actions and begin to make amends."

Good grief! Make amends? Give me a break!

Bill has chosen to call past, present, or potential customers racist. To the Leftists, I suppose he's a hero. I guess he thinks his political views help his business. He's wrong, of course.

Obviously, Bill doesn't want my business. That works out well because he's not going to get it.

As I've said before, I can't boycott Penzeys Spices because I don't buy spices from Penzeys.

To those who do business with Bill Penzey, maybe you might want to find another place to shop, especially if you're a person he deplores.

It's important to remember that Penzey's political comments aren't made in private circles. He isn't just a known Leftist donor and supporter. He wants the world to know that he considers millions of Americans to be deplorable, and he ties that to his business.

Penzey wants purchasing spices to be a political act.

If you're one of the people this guy calls racist, and you purchase products from Penzeys, think about taking your business elsewhere, someplace where you aren't accused of being a bad person.

________________

Mark Belling has posted the locations of Bill Penzey's spice stores in southeastern Wisconsin.

They're all suburban. (The one "Milwaukee" location is a block from Whitefish Bay, very close to Winkie's.)

Where are the stores in the central city? Why doesn't Penzey show an interest in serving a more diverse population?

The map of his store locations looks like he's avoiding the city.

The guy lectures us on racism, but he doesn't put his stores where his mouth is.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pope Benedict, who lived through the Third Reich and whose moral authority I trust much more than a self-important spice monger, understood the nuance of supporting a political actor because of sinful positions (e.g., racism, abortion, etc.) as opposed to voting for someone in spite of those positions provided sufficient countervailing reasons. There is a sizeable group of Trumpist voters (yes, the deplorables, who are now justifying the Muslim registry based on Japanese internment in WW II, not exactly something to be proud of) who deserve his ire, but no, let's tar and feather everyone whose thoughtful risk calculus meant they couldn't bear to put a trail of scandals and several progressive judges into office.

Sadly, his screed isn't unique. More liberal websites have been repeatedly arguing that ALL of Trump's supporters are irredeemably racists--because they, intentionally or not, voted for someone who promised racist outcomes for non-whites--and any effort by Liz Warren and Bernie to reach out to these horrible voters is abetting racism. Not only does this miss the point that most rural, blue collar voters actually were motivated by trade, but it insists on attacking voters and thus continuing to lose.

P.S., his spices are overpriced.

Mary said...

That is spot-on.

TommyCord said...

This was my response to the email from Bill Penzey:

Is Donald Trump bombastic, inarticulate, unschooled in political correctness? Yes he is. Is he a racist?  No, he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. I am highly offended that you have chosen to characterize him in that way. It labels me as a racist by extension because I supported his candidacy. Please remove my name from your postal mailing list and your email list.

Anonymous said...

I too told Bill Penzey that the only racism and hate-mongering seems to be from his side of the table and that he's going to CONTINUE to lose customers if he keeps using his newsletters as a "Sounding board" for his unwanted political viewpoints. He should stick to selling spices and keep out of politics; like it's been mentioned in this article and previous articles, it is only hurting his business, not helping it. He's lost countless customers because he can't seem to expand his "love-focus" marketing promotions to his own self and chooses the path of hate towards certain groups of customers.

I've already encouraged several of my friends to boycott the company, so I hope they do as well.

Anonymous said...

I am disgusted with your company and your response to your so called racist and bigoted republican customers. I am a college educated customer and a Christian and a deplorable republican and I am so upset. Yes I voted for Trump and I am proud of it.nI got a call from three of my friends to alert me to read your email. Shame on you. You have alienated 50 percent of the US. I have never seen such a group of poor losers. If you cared about your business you would keep your personal opinions to yourself and not insult your paying customers. I am so angry and you know what they say about telling everyone you know when you have a bad experience..I will no longer go to your stores or buy from you again in the future. I am looking to join the boycott on Facebook. Chris Swartz

Sent from my iPad

Anonymous said...

I am disgusted with your company and your response to your so called racist and bigoted republican customers. I am a college educated customer and a Christian and a deplorable republican and I am so upset. Yes I voted for Trump and I am proud of it. I got a call from three of my friends to alert me to read your email. Shame on you. You have alienated 50 percent of the US. I have never seen such a group of poor losers. If you cared about your business you would keep your personal opinions to yourself and not insult your paying customers. I am so angry and you know what they say about telling everyone you know when you have a bad experience..I will no longer go to your stores or buy from you again in the future. I am looking to join the boycott on Facebook. Chris Swartz

Sent from my iPad

Newc47 said...

Bill is entitled to his opinion and we as consumers can choose to shop where we want. Penzeys is off our list.

Anonymous said...

To the CEO of Penzey's:

Bill, you sound like a very confused person. I am an immigrant and ethnic minority from Asia. Many of us Asians and our Latino friends voted for Trump. Does that make us racist too? Or were we just doing something dumb when we voted for Trump?

We know who and what we voted for.

We suggest you stop listening to the fact-warping media and realize that the 50% of the USA population who voted for Trump were not all white middle-class men.

I grew up in a town where 99% of the population were white, like you. The one thing I remember about white people is that they loved telling us minorities we were wrong about this and that.

Stop with your condescending attitude and get back to work at the nice business you inherited from your father before you ruin your inheritance.

Anonymous said...

Okay folks, Bill Penzey is probably the Worst Offender of "Racism" than anyone I know. I had the displeasure of working at Penzeys for several years, so I know the hard ugly truth of this man, warts and all.

Bill Penzeys lives in an Upper Class All White Suburban Neighborhood.

He has few if any minorities in his employment, with absolutely No minorities in Upper Management while I worked there.

He sends his children to expensive Private Schools which are attended by mostly if not all white students.

He closed operations in the one and only store that was located in the Inner City of Milwaukee after 5 years, allowing the business to be written off as a loss.

The Company itself, is a hostile workplace at best. I was bullied and harassed by a senior manager who worked for Penzeys for year's, as well as other long term Penzeys employees. People were fired for ridiculous unsubstantiated reason's constantly. Penzeys was the worst job I have worked at in my entire career. Wages were below poverty level, hard work meant nothing and the Company is full of nepotism and cronyism.

Bill Penzey is a Phony and so are all his absurd marketing slogans about Love & Kindness. Sorry, but this company is full of a lot of very Unhappy people that would benefit from long term psychotherapy.

Angela Williams Duea said...

Just a correction, Penzeys does have stores in the heart of Milwaukee as well as the north side of Chicago. I have been inside these stories and assure you they exist.