The Minstrel on Main Street

After some deliberation, I decided to write a column about a racially-explosive logo that is an integral part of the marketing behind No Grease, Inc. the Charlotte barber shop chain. The column appears in today's paper (July 7, 2010), and explores my distaste for the company's logo -- a bug-eyed, big-lipped minstrel cooning for all the world to see.

My quandary in writing the piece is that I happen to really like the owners of No Grease, twin brothers Damian and Jermaine Johnson. The Buffalo natives have brought a fresh vision, not to mention jobs, to Charlotte's business community. Of late, their fledgling advocacy group, Urban Business Network, has been a critical force in bringing overlooked, small black businesses to the city's economic table.

But for the life of me, I can't quite grasp the logic behind the No Grease logo. As I say in my column, that logic "goes like this: symbols possess no real power and No Grease, through its solid work ethic and entrepreneurial success, embodies the notion that racist stereotypes are no match against the real truth of what we can accomplish."

While all this may be true, the reality is that lots of folks, black and white alike, find the No Grease logo to be racially offensive at worst and unsettling at best.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing your opinion on the logo. Take a look at my today column and tell me what you think.