Thursday, June 03, 2010

A race issue at a Rockridge, Oakland, CA restaurant



Also: city of oakland, cA, sf bay area race relations, san francisco, california, rockridge and race, black white oakland

Rockridge, Oakland, CA 
Oakland, CA - Fresh from a visit to my doctor's office that didn't go as I would have liked (I was told, really ordered, to lose 20 pounds and gave a large vial of blood with the fear of the unknown report to come), I decided that I needed to relax.

Normally, a trip to the gym would be the next stop but that's not relaxing, really. Fitness work is just that: another kind of work. The fantasy of having a glass of whiskey at a Rockridge, Oakland, California restaurant next to Rockridge BART - the owners I've known for a long time - seemed like a fun idea. Not meeting anyone; just totally spur of the moment.

So I arrived from Rockridge BART, walked in, and noticed the lower level bar area was totally redesigned. The bar itself was smaller than before and two people took up most of it. The bartender, a nice Latino man I've seen before, invited me to sit at the high table nearby.

I sat down as he brought over a glass of a great whiskey and a glass of water. I drank more of the water than the whiskey at first. Much of my time was spent using (or is it playing around with) Foursquare. The geo-location social network such that one can "check" in at places, but not at this establishment because it wasn't on it.

I asked the person who obviously was the floor waitress about this, saying "excuse me, are you on Foursquare?" She hadn't even heard of it, so I showed her how it works and said I'd tell the person who's the owner about it. Then I returned to surfing. Relaxed? Yes. For a time.

After a while I decided I wouldn't mind having another whiskey and water. Of course, I expected someone to notice my glasses were almost empty, but that didn't happen. Meanwhile, the white brunette floor waitress was literally helping every other person around me, but me.

First, I worked to ignore it, as well as the fact that no one else including the bartender, came over to ask if I wanted anything. There was no reason for that treatment at all.

After 40 or 50 minutes of that, I decided to go straight to the owner, who I know, for help. I calmly and humorously said "Great to see you. Say, you're service is terrible" (and yes, you can say that in a funny way.) Then I told her what happened and she was angry for me.

As soon as she came downstairs in front of me and it was obvious we were talking you could feel the air change. The bartender suddenly jumped up and rushed over from behind the bar to ask "Do you need anything?" I said "It took me getting her before anyone helped me? What am I a sphinx?"

Then my friend the owner introduced me to a Berkeley City Council member who walked in and we all started talking about politics. Then the wait staff realized I was "a somebody." That was awful.

At first, I was just going to forget the whole thing, but after I finished my second glass and left, it hit me that I just felt sad and depressed.

I considered contacting San Francisco Chronicle Food and Wine Editor Michael Bauer about what happened, but then I realized he would not have the same feelings for what I went through. So, I decided I didn't care if I came off as "Black Guy Complaining" because what happened to me occurred because I'm black and male. I don't care what any counter reason offered is -- and that set of responses is predictable -- after a time on this planet you know it when it happens in the Bay Area.

The one problem with the San Francisco Bay Area is that in the context of social interaction, there's a pecking order: a white person seems to expect a black person to talk to them first. And more often than not, black men fall right into this set of expectations by doing just that.

I wondered long ago what would happen if I acted just like the people who seemed to avoid saying anything first, and yes, who were white. What happened was that a lot of conversations I would have just stopped and I learned a lot about those people and Bay Area society. But I also learned who my real friends were.

This problem even extends to black women: they expect the man to talk first. So between both sets of "folks" the black man is left to do a lot of the social heavy lifting. The problem for others is they can wreck a business by bringing that "pecking order" behavior from the street into a restaurant.

That's what happened in Oakland's Rockridge restaurant on Wednesday. If I'd spoken up, I'd have been helped, but I was not supposed to. They were supposed to treat me like all the other white patrons at the place: with the respect of asking me if I wanted something else. Instead none of them made eye contact with me.

Look, I told one waitress about Foursquare, and thought I'd recognized another from somewhere else. So I wasn't being closed. But service and treatment at a place of that stature - or any place - dictate that I should be treated as a valued patron.

It's not the owner's fault. Frankly, and my feelings are still raw, I wish she'd fire the staff and start all over again. That's the only way they'd learn. I know for a fact had I been white and male that would not have happened. Oh, and I was well-dressed, too.

Enough is enough. If you're working for a restaurant, don't bring the pecking order way into it, you're hurt the establishment. That black guy you're ignoring just may be a somebody. But then, we're all somebody. That's what Dr. King was trying to tell America decades ago.

Stay tuned.

Giuseppi Logan WFMU Tompkins News by Suzannah B. Troy


Giuseppi Logan wants me to listen to him on WFMU.  I just haven't had a chance yet.  I continue to get very touching responses to my series on him including today and I haven't even had a chance to write back which I will do so shortly.  You can find my YouTube documentary series on Giuseppi Logan on YouTube and if you haven't seen it, I promise you, you will be moved.  He went from homelessness, thought dead by his many fans to my plastering him playing jazz on YouTube and cutting a new album for the first time since the 1960's with ESP.


Read the Jazz Review by Tim Madison -- the first person to contact me and explain the significance of the 1st YouTube and Tim urged me to continue filming.  I have to thank him because I had endured one of the scariest and most disturbing experiences of my life other than Sept. 11 and did not think I had the energy to do so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTssjT9rAmQ&feature=related Giuseppi still needs your support.


His youngest son and only son from his 2nd marriage is living on the West Coast and will be back to continue his work on finding his father and that was because of my YouTubes as well as losing his son to a random act of gun violence.  Several shots to the back of the head would end Giuseppi Logan's grandson's life and Jaee, named after his Dad was an honor student and a football high school star.


Also please note,  for those following my original blog I don't have any information on a homeless woman that has lived most of her adult life -- the last 30 years mostly in and around Tompkins Square Park here in the East Village in New York City.  She wrestles with many of the problems that celebrities do as reported on TMZ but she is poverty level and I wish I could protect her from the creeps that would exploit her including a hateful blogger that follows her and has followed me as well without my knowledge, photographed me and plastered our photos -- her topless and she was drunk out of her mind; mine was an anti-semtic gay bashing.  


She has serious issues and needs help.  When I think of her,  I always think of Ozzie Osborune, although she is African American and blind in one eye because drunk she can be as bad as Ozzie and sober as sweet but she has no advocate.   She has no public relations person and this sicko stalker trashes her and of course me for defending her and pointing out he doesn't want anyone photographing him with or without his shirt and he has the luxury of a door to close and she has none.  That is me understating hateful vile the circumstances.


The NYPD has tried to help her even arranging housing for her and she has refused it. I don't know how you can help someone like her and truly sober she is a good soul.  She has told me she knows she needs rehab. If anyone reading this can say a pray for her...she needs them.

Barbara Walters out of hospital + Rest in Peace Rue McClanahan - by Suzannah B. Troy

The indestructible Barbara Walters is out of the hospital after having a faulty heart valve replaced.  She is doing quite well and there is video footage of her walking down the street here in New York City looking quite spectacular .  It  is hard to believe she just endured heart surgery!   You can get up to date info on Barbara Walters from The View website.

Rest in peace, Rue McClanahan leaving Betty White as the last living Golden Girl.   Betty White is reportedly heart broken over Rue McClanahan's passing.  Before there was The Golden Girls there was Maude.  I did love Bea Arthur and followed her from Maude to The Golden Girls which was much more light hearted but addressed serious issues as well.  I can't express how much I enjoyed these shows and there really is nothing quite like them now on TV.

It has been reported that Rue, the very loved Golden Girl has successfully battled breast cancer but died this morning of a heart attack.  She was a prolific actress and she was hoping to return to work and I am sure if she had she would have been treated with the same enthusiasm as Betty White.

Boston College Venture Competition produces Silicon Valley startups



New York, NY - (Zennie62's trip to TechCrunch was sponsored by Christine Smith Associates, Inc., the Premier Female Contractor in NYC.) The TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in New York City featured startups that were considered to have the best chance of "disrupting" or changing a given industry. Such a compartmentalized event makes it's easy to forget there are other organizations that support startups. One such organization is the Boston College Venture Competition (BCVC).

I learned about BCVC from Sophia Monroe, a volunteer at TechCrunch Disrupt. I ran into three of them multiple times each day and it was during those encounters that I learned about the Boston College Venture Competition.

As it turned out, Sophia Monroe is the Executive Director of BCVC, so I asked for an interview.

Boston College Venture Competition funds startups

The BCVC is a student run business plan competition at Boston College. "Next year, will be our fifth year anniversary," Sophia said, "We have three companies out in Silicon Valley right now. Two of which are funded and the third is looking for funding."

The best known of them is WePay, started by Boston College alumn Bill Clerico and Rich Aberman, who also founded BCVC. WePay allows groups to collect money online and for fundraisers,or events, or something like a bachelor party. Sophia said WePay "just raised $1.65 million from investors including Ron Conway (the founder of SV Angels)."

The second company is Wakemate, which was funded by Y Combinator (as was WePay). Wakemate produces a cell phone accessory that "will analyze your sleep to find the optimal time for you to wake up. You will feel refreshed and energized every time you wake, even from naps!" according to its website. It's developed by "Perfect Third, Inc."

The third one is called PIQC.net and is in search of funding. PIQC is an exciting visually-based student-run search engine that also needs some work. When I typed "zennie abraham" the largest bubble I got was listed as "Victorian Houses." Well, I must have done something wrong, but that aside, the three companies have exciting products and services.

Sophia said BCVC started to fill a void in the Boston College community. As much bad news comes out about our education system as a whole, this is a good news story. Boston College Venture Competition, and other programs like it, give students a chance to realize their dreams of starting a successful tech business.

Yes, one has to be a student at Boston Collage to benefit from BCVC, but if there's not a similar program at your college, contact BCVC for advice and guidance.

For more information visit their website here: BCVC.

Should Bud Selig give Tigers' Armando Galarraga his perfect game?

On early Thursday morning, this space posted a blog about the Tigers' Armando Galarraga being robbed of a perfect game by umpire Jim Joyce, who apologized to him for the bad call. Here's what was written, in brief:

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga could just see his chance to join the Oakland Athletics' Dallas Braden and the Philadelphia Phillies' Roy Halladay in the 2010 perfect game club getting closer and closer.

Galarraga was just one out away from the perfect game mark tonight against the Cleveland Indians when the unthinkable happened. Umpire Jim Joyce called what should have been a run-to-tag-the-plate out as an infield hit. Here's the video:





As you can see Armando beat Cleveland's Jason Donald to the bag; Donald was clearly tagged out at base because Armando beat him. What was going through Jim Joyce's head at the time is anyone's guess. That Jones apologized for the bad call only makes the entire episode that much worse but Galarraga took it with class and Jones was "utterly distraught"


The dominant Internet topic

As of this writing, the Jim Joyce blown call impacting Armando Galarraga' perfect game is the Internet's dominant topic. Detroit fans are upset. Baseball fans want instant replay. But the main question, and the focus of this pole below is "Should MLB Commissioner Bud Selig give Tigers' Armando Galarraga his perfect game?"

I said he should because Jim Joyce admitted the error and that alone is rare, to take a perfect game away on a blown call, then admit it. What do you think? Should MLB Commissioner Bud Selig step in and give Armando Galarraga his perfect game?


create a free poll on pollsb.com

Jim Joyce robs Tigers' Armando Galarraga of perfect game

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga could just see his chance to join the Oakland Athletics' Dallas Braden and the Philadelphia Phillies' Roy Halladay in the 2010 perfect game club getting closer and closer.

Galarraga was just one out away from the perfect game mark tonight against the Cleveland Indians when the unthinkable happened. Umpire Jim Joyce called what should have been a run-to-tag-the-plate out as an infield hit. Here's the video:



As you can see Armando beat Cleveland's Jason Donald to the bag; Donald was clearly tagged out at base because Armando beat him. What was going through Jim Joyce's head at the time is anyone's guess. That Jones apologized for the bad call only makes the entire episode that much worse but Galarraga took it with class and Jones was "utterly distraught" according to freelance reporter David Hogg on Twitter.

Hogg also tweeted...


@amandarykoff That might have been the most gut-wrenching interview I've ever done. The audio doesn't do it justice.
about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to amandarykoff


Still, Jim Joyce's sorrow over his error is not enough to quell Detroit Tiger's bloggers. Big Al over at Bless You Boys is just plain seeing red over it:


I feel as if something was robbed from me. Something I'll never get back, and never see again in my lifetime. I cannot even fathom how Armando Galarraga and the Tigers must feel.

As I'm still livid, I could care less as to how Joyce feels, apologetic as he has been, despite his being considered one of baseball's better umpires...everywhere but in Detroit...Joyce blew the biggest call of his career, and his legacy will live on in infamy, with the likes of Don Denkinger.

The Tigers can forgive Joyce. Personally, I want my pound of flesh.


This will go down as the rarest of events in Major League Baseball history. As rare as a perfect game is, to have it taken away by an ump who admits the error is just un believable.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig should give Armando Galarraga that perfect game. It's only the right thing to do.

Stay tuned.