Chick-fil-A CEO ‘shines’ a man’s shoes as grand gesture of ‘racial’ reconciliation then freezes up when asked for company shares instead
Well, Dan Cathy didn’t exactly “shine” anybody’s loafers, but he did rub a coarse-bristled brush on a man’s immaculate sneakers.
A recorded segment shared to social media shows a round table discussion for Passion City Church in Atlanta, and Cathy (ready to go with prop in hand) began to recount a story he’d heard from a “dear friend”. Per Cathy, this friend was apparently present for some sort of religious-based sermon, and at one point, a young man in the audience, “gripped with conviction” over racism, “took a shoe brush and walked over” to an elderly black man, knelt down, and began to “shine his [elderly man’s] shoes.”
Now, this is not to demean acts of service (I estimate self-sacrifice to be the ultimate virtue as I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior); but where did this young man get a shoe shine brush in the middle of a congregational service? For years, I’ve faithfully attended a church, and never have I been made aware of the location of a shoe shine brush in the building. Seems rather theatrical if you were to ask me.
Nevertheless, the young man’s act caused “tears…to flow” — and at this point in the video, Cathy, who is white, rises from his seat to “put some words to action” and grovels across the stage towards a co-participant in the discussion, who is black. (I only bring up skin color for the sake of context.)
Cathy then proceeds to genuflect, and abrade the black’s man sneakers with his miniature besom. At one point, the camera angle shows the black man’s face, and the awkward smile alone is enough to make you throw up — but it gets worse. Cathy ends his little skit by saying “...there’s a time in which we need to have some personal action here, maybe we need to give them a hug too, brother” before of course, embracing the still-seated and very embarrassed man — then it gets...even worse.
The black man, in a playful attempt to make light of the mortifying charade, jokingly suggests that Cathy give him some “stock” in Chick-fil-A (he is the CEO after all) — but in all Cathy’s virtue-signaling glory, he pauses, uncomfortably chuckles, ignores the comment, and continues monologuing about his selfless charity and benevolence.
Any human with a moderate level of social intelligence is likely to arrive at the same conclusion about what happened…. If I had to speculate, I’d guess that Cathy’s speechlessness arose from a stifled internal panic session. Oh no! What did he just get himself into? Was someone going to expect him to do more than the empty “shoe shine” gesture? The horror!
Maybe this great humanitarian needs a refresher of James 2:16?
The scene really was…too much. If you feel like inducing that roller-coaster-drop feeling in your stomach, watch the clip from Stew Peters via Twitter:
Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy says ALL whites should get on their knees and shine black peoples’ shoes with "a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment". pic.twitter.com/KlEotHowWU
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) May 30, 2023
Image: Twitter video screen grab.