Is this guy racist or just incompetent?

Barber shop protest

The incident was brought to light by Darryl Fisher, of Silver City, N.M., who described himself in his letter as "a black physician looking for a change of scenery after 30 years of working in a major U.S. city."

He wrote that while visiting medical practitioners in Bellows Falls, he stopped at Mike's to get a haircut and found two men playing cards. He was told that the barber was not in.

"So I returned an hour later and the same person who said that the barber was not in was cutting a Caucasian patron's hair," Fisher wrote.

"I am very pleased to know that I would not want to work or live in Bellows Falls with the above behavior of your local businesses," he wrote.

Protesters who braved the morning chill to gather around 9, said they are upset that one man's behavior caused accusations of racism that seem to encompass the entire village as a whole, lumping all its residents together under the category of "bigot."

"The doctor was grouping us all as racist, and that's simply not true," said Ann Dibernardo, vice-chairman of the Rockingham Selectboard.

Reformer.com


Sounds like a pretty cut and dried case of racism, doesn't it? Some scumbag barber turning away a man just because he's black and he doesn't want to cut his hair.

But, wait, there's more to this story:

Barber says he's not good at cutting blacks' hair, turns away customer

A Vermont barber who turned away a black customer says he was trying to avoid embarrassment for both of them because he's no good at cutting black people's hair.

Mike Aldrich, who run's Mike's Barber Shop in Bellows Falls told the would-be customer when he stopped in last month that the barber wasn't in.

The man, Dr. Darryl Fisher, of Taos, N.M., walked by the shop later and saw Aldrich cutting the hair of a white customer and realized then that Aldrich was the barber.

Fisher, whose cause was taken up Saturday in a sidewalk demonstration outside the shop, says he thinks the incident was racially motivated. Aldrich says no, it was because he has trouble with black people's hair.

Burlington Free Press

So what do you think; was this guy a racist or is he just an incompetent barber who was too embarrassed to admit he might ruin that guy's hair?

With racism, I always use the age old "he who smelt it....." Well.. You know.

The real question is why did the man automatically assume it was his color that made the man not want to cut hair? I met a local barber one time that only was interested in cutting locals hair because he was a gossip king.

Honestly, the racism card has no weight to it anymore. It's friggen 2010 and we have Obama. The US is 70ish% white and 14ish% black yet Obama got elected.

Sorry folks, unless there are men on your front lawn wearing bedsheets, the race card is officially invalid.

Edit to add:

I think why we are hearing it more and more lately is the fact that it's not relevant anymore. People are more scared about having to be judged by their actions instead of hiding behind how they were born.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Don't know about you guys but all money is green to me.

Maybe the barber was just too engrossed in his game of cards to want to do any work when the black guy showed up.

When the white guy showed up the card game was over.

Seriously too many people over think this stuff.

This is what really goes on.

You can make yourself go crazy by over thinking stuff that just isn't there.

What ever happened to your an Ahole and I don't want to do any work for you?

Must we all work for the man now?

Barber says he's not good at cutting blacks' hair... nice move

I bet he chewed a snickers, stopped the moment, thought and then answered: is just that I'm not good at cutting blacks' hair.

reply to post by metalpr


The thing is, that's a valid argument! It's totally different from what I hear. Now it comes to mind thinking about that, would any self respecting black man go into a run down barber shop with an old white man and really want his hair cut, or did he just want to get on the news? Now THAT'S the question!

Originally posted by PayMeh
reply to post by metalpr

 

The thing is, that's a valid argument! It's totally different from what I hear. Now it comes to mind thinking about that, would any self respecting black man go into a run down barber shop with an old white man and really want his hair cut, or did he just want to get on the news? Now THAT'S the question!

Perhaps the DA should look into the possibility of extortion and blackmail.

From what I can tell from these stories, the guy stopped in town for a few days to see if he wanted to move there from New Mexico. After the haircut incident, he wrote a nasty letter to the editor of the local paper and went home, swearing never to return.

The local, small town folk, probably having nothing better to do, decided to hold a protest against the "racist" barber just to liven things up in their sleepy little town and, like one person said, because they were upset at the visitor labeling the whole town as racist based upon this solitary incident.

It looks to me like a bunch of bored folk looking to create a little drama in their lives.

It also makes me wonder if the visiting doctor's story was for real; what kind of nut moves from the desert to the freezing Northeast?

I wonder if there ever really was a visiting doctor in the 1st place or if the whole incident wasn't created in order to get this sleepy little town their 15 minutes of fame?

Originally posted by PayMeh
reply to post by metalpr

 

The thing is, that's a valid argument! It's totally different from what I hear. Now it comes to mind thinking about that, would any self respecting black man go into a run down barber shop with an old white man and really want his hair cut, or did he just want to get on the news? Now THAT'S the question!

how could the black man know that he gonna be rejected before hand?
did the black man lied about the incident or the Barber admitted the whole situation actually happened?

what I think is that the black man took this too far....even if the barber didn't want to cut his hair...the barber had the right to say no, no reason needed.

I think it is the doctor that is racist.
Second line.

What appears to be a clear cut case of racism, may not be so clear cut after all.

My Ex wife was a hairdresser and oddly enough this became a topic of conversation around our home. AT the time we were not married, but living together, and she was still in school to get her cosmetology license. She had become very concerned about failing because, as she explained it, her partner whose hair she had to work on was a black girl. She was not very good at it. She claimed that the hair was much courser and you had to be much more careful when doing it or you could very well mess it up. She spent a lot of extra hours in the kitchen with her partner learning how to do her hair. It was an amazing conversation to listen to. What amazed me most about it was the understanding of her partner. They had a very open, honest, and most of all non politically correct conversation in relation to race.

Based on that experience I would say that if the barber had simply been honest with the Doctor, if his reason is truthful, I would say the doctor may very well have understood.

reply to post by metalpr


And if the barber had cut his hair and really messed it up, it would have been racially motivated. Seriously, I lived in TN town with a total non white population of 2. That barber there wouldn't know where to begin! Now, knowing that would you rather a) just say the barber wasn't in, or b) tell the man that you don't know how and risk him causing a scene saying he was refused service?

The barber in his own way was more than likely trying to be polite. Even if he wasn't, the guy should be glad the barber was at least honest as I'm sure he wouldn't want his hair cutting services anyways.

This reminds me of the mom dressing her kid up in drag for Halloween, then coincidentally getting to go on talk shows because of it. I'll call it like I see it. An attention whore is an attention whore.

Well, for what it is worth, Black peoples hair does cut differently than white peoples hair.

You actually do have to learn to cut different types of hair... It's not as easy as just taking out a pair of scissors and trimming away...

I think that it was not racially motivated beyond the fact that this barber does not know how to cut the hair of black people correctly... So in other words, not at all.

Look, here is the deal, he did not know how to cut that hair, so he said no. Quite frankly if I was in their shoes I would appreciate the honesty... I would not be happy with a crappy haircut. I would prefer that the barber tell me hey, I don't want to cut your hair because I will screw it up.

So for whatever that is worth....