Last week I was in New York. I was in town for a meeting with CNBC, and Armando Tam was in town to meet with our local NAHREP chapters in the area. On Tuesday, we were having breakfast at the Soho Grand Hotel and were seated next to a young white couple who seemed annoyed. It turns out they had been waiting an excessive amount of time for their breakfast to arrive. Once it did arrive, they ate their food and defiantly told their server that they weren’t going to pay their bill and stormed out. The server calmly said “Ok” and proceeded to clear their table. I have to admit, I was a bit shocked because I had never seen anything like that before. The couple was so matter of fact with their declaration, and the server didn’t even blink. We’ve all been subject to bad service at restaurants before, but it never occurred to me that not paying the bill was an option. I know that not everything is about race, but Armando and I did discuss whether the restaurant’s reaction would have been different if the patrons were Black… or Hispanic for that matter. It made us think about the two Black men in Philly who were arrested in Starbucks for no reason and whether the public would have been as sympathetic if it turned out they had refused to pay their bill because of bad service. I can honestly say that I don’t know, but it’s something to think about.
NAHREP has reasons for both optimism and concern about a second Trump term...
With the presidential election only three weeks away, partisans on both sides are taking off the gloves with rhetoric that vilifies their opponents and fires up their minions. Most people believe that our country is more divided than ever. Indeed, the days when liberal and conservative candidates can debate their views respectfully seem like a distant memory. At the risk of oversimplifying things too much, let me cut to the chase about what is driving the divisions in the country.
NAHREP shares data at conferences to build a more accurate narrative about the Latino community from an economic perspective. Sharing that data with attendees, influential business leaders, and media at the event helps achieve that goal while arming them with information that can give them a competitive advantage with their businesses.