A few days ago I posted about a shocking incident that occurred at Farley’s East in Oakland, California, in which staff prevented a Jewish Zionist woman from going to the bathroom after she complained about the antisemitic graffiti inside. The staff members then ranted against Israel, all of this captured on video.
Not long after the resultant backlash, the owners Amy and Chris Hillyard posted on social media that “We’ve taken corrective measures with our staff and removed the offensive graffiti.” It was not clear what these “corrective measures” meant, but many – including yours truly – took the euphemistic language to mean anything but firing the staff members’ sorry arses. Even though one of the staff members in question was not so sure:
Following this, the Hillyards posted on social media that they were “taking a pause” to “address our staffing situation”, in a further confirmation that the initial “corrective measures” probably did not include firing their sorry arses.
The pause is now over, and I am happy to report that the Hillyards have finally fired their sorry arses.
Given this is ‘woke’ Oakland California, I did not expect such a strongly worded apology and acknowledgement that events like their staff’s actions “strike fear in the Jewish community and perpetuate the rise of antisemitism in our community and around the world.” I also did not expect the owners to clearly acknowledge “the pain and terror that Hamas inflicted on innocent civilians.” And while they mention “the horrific suffering and loss of innocent Palestinian lives in Gaza”, note how they are careful not to blame this on Israel.
One can always speculate whether the apology was genuine or just business-motivated. Not knowing the Hillyards I prefer to assume the former. Either way, I have to give them props for doing the right thing, which is not a given these days.
