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People in the city of Milinocket, Maine, have found their own ways to celebrate Juneteenth, a federal holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States. Still, a sign on the insurance company’s window attracted the most attention after it not only rejected the new holiday, but also included racist images of blacks and fried chicken.
“On June 10, whatever… we are closed,” read a sign outside the insurance agency Harry E. Reid, according to a photo posted on social media. “Enjoy your fried chicken and green red mucosa.”
As the company faced a negative reaction because of the sign, insurance giants Allstate and Progressive announced this week that they were leaving the company in Maine, after days of national headlines. An Allstate spokesman told The Washington Post that the company had terminated its contract with Harry E. Reed, which Allstate describes as an “independent agent.”
“Our commitment to inclusive diversity and equality is non-negotiable and we take action when people violate our code of conduct,” Allstate said in a statement.
Progressive spokesman Jeff Sibel told The Post that the company was “horrified by the sign recently published by the Harry E. Reed Agency” and that Progressive was also ending its relationship with the company.
“We are committed to creating an environment in which our people feel welcome, valued and respected, and we expect everyone who represents Progressive to take part in this commitment,” Sibel said in a statement. “The mark is in direct violation of this commitment and does not comply with the core values and code of conduct of our company.”
Melanie Higgins, who helps run the insurance company with her mother, wrote in a letter Wednesday posted on Facebook that she had published the mark. Higgins apologized for “any misunderstanding or injury caused by my usual malicious signs and office closure content” and said she had been reprimanded for her actions.
“My only explanation I can offer is that I had a death in my family and I just wanted to go home and quickly wrote the note,” Higgins wrote, identifying himself as multiracial. “I can assure you that I would never really be described as a racist in any aspect of the word. Nor am I deliberately inciting such actions. ”
The messages left for the insurance company were not returned immediately on Thursday.
Juneteenth acknowledged the events of June 19, 1865, when the people enslaved in Galveston, Texas, learned that they were free more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The following year marked the first celebration on June 16 across the country and has since been a cultural mainstay with parades, cooking, art shows and games. Texas was the first state to make the Juneteenth public holiday in 1979.
After the Eleventh was declared a federal holiday last year, some black leaders were concerned that its historical significance would be co-opted by sales of mattresses or patio furniture – like Remembrance Day and Fourth of July. Some companies have faced a backlash on social media for early wrong steps. Among them was the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, which advertised a “June watermelon salad” in its food court – using other food that was armed as a racist troop to belittle blacks, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum then abandoned him and issued an apology after the backlash.
Some experts say the link between the Black Community and the fried chicken stems from a story in which enslaved Africans turned their ability to fry chickens into a successful business. Marcia Chatelain, a professor of history and African-American studies at Georgetown University, wrote in The Post in 2019 that although there is a long connection between fried chicken and African-American food culture, the connection is distorted in a racist trop.
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“Despite these positive connotations, fried chicken is also often used as a prop in popular culture to humiliate black people,” wrote Chattlen, who later won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2021. “The celebration of the 1915 Ku Klux Klan. DW Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” included a scene depicting black Reconstructionist lawmakers feasting on chicken during a formal procedure. This humiliating stereotype has remained part of our popular culture – several times during his career, peers have made tasteless fried chicken jokes about Tiger Woods, for example.
Which came first: the fried chicken or the racist trope?
About 71 miles north of Bangor, Milinoket is a city of about 4,200 with a population of about 98 percent white, according to the census. Less than 1% of the population is black, the data show.
The sign in front of the insurance company first attracted attention on Monday, when Milinoket resident Alura Stiluagon posted a photo of the sign on Facebook.
“The racism in Millinocket is real,” she wrote.
Higgins wrote in her letter that she had published signs of closure with “humor to alleviate” situations since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. She mentioned an example to the WCSH in Portland, Maine, in which she thanked all servicemen for their service on Remembrance Day.
“Now a country that goes to hell in a hand basket faster than my dog steals a slice of pizza from the counter… now that I mentioned pizza, I crave it… remember, the more you weigh, the harder you are kidnapping,” she wrote. .
But the June 16 sign, which reflects the racist trope, was a different story, city officials said. Steve Golib, chairman of Milinoket City Council, said in a statement this week that it was “deeply sad, shameful and unacceptable for any person, business or organization to try to shed light on the Juneteenth and what it represents for millions of slaves and their living descendants. “
“There is no place in the city of Milinoket for such a blatant disregard for human decency,” he said.
Since the label was released, online critics have left one-star reviews for businesses on Google and Yelp, with many mentioning the Juneteenth note.
“The photo says it all,” wrote a Google reviewer.
Other insurance companies in Milinocket and around Maine are facing a turnaround from people who believe they have published the sign. Although about 150 miles from Milinocket, the owner of Reed Family Insurance Advisors in Damariscota, Maine, told WGME that his company was flooded with angry voice messages and feedback.
“We are not connected to him,” Nate Reed said. “It’s just the same last name.”
There was a similar problem with Millinocket Insurance Agency. Owner Lori Speed told WABI that the phone numbers of the two businesses were almost identical and that it was flooded with criticism.
“We appreciate what Juneteenth means and we are not racists,” Speed wrote on Facebook, accompanying the sign of their Juneteenth sign, which tells customers, “Have a nice and happy holiday weekend!”
Golib told WCSH that the city is now trying to find a way forward, stressing that “a desired incident like this does not characterize who we are as a community.” After noting that the business had received death threats, Higgins reiterated his remorse for what had happened.
“I’m really sorry,” she said. “I’m depressed that this is even happening.”
Samantha Cherry, Latechia Beachham, Jacob Bogij and Jonathan Edwards contributed to this report.
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