#BlackHistoryMonthChallenge: Front of the House

Today’s #BlackHistoryMonth challenge is a re-up from 2018, because the soul-crushing experience of poverty is one that confuses poor white folks who are told we have “privilege”. My testimony is a time I directly benefitted, monetarily, from white supremacy, while still being broke as hell.

I left home soon after graduating high school, moving to New Orleans with about $300 and an old car. I shuffled through a variety of terrible, low-wage jobs before I found some stability in the food service industry.

I worked two jobs, one of them was at a now-shuttered pasta chain. This was my “fancy” gig because I had to wear a button-down shirt (hilarious photo below).

It quickly dawned on me that virtually all of the tipped, front-of-house positions were held by white people, many of whom were college students with access to some financial support. The back-of-house jobs were almost entirely held by Black men of all ages. I began to notice this was true of almost every restaurant I went into.

When I said something to my manager, he replied that some customers didn’t like having a Black waiter. When I criticized that statement, he told me if he hired Black waitstaff, they wouldn’t make good money anyway. Like he was doing them a favor.

Today’s federal minimum wage is STILL $7.25, around $11,000 a year if you’re scheduled for 5 six-hour shifts per week. At 19 with a high school degree and no skills, I earned about $22,000 a year in tips for the same number of hours. If the Fight for $15 wins an increase in the minimum wage, someone working in the service industry today would begin making about $23,000 annually.