Is dried-out asparagus in a predominantly black neighborhood evidence of racial discrimination?
That's what crossed the mind of local St. Louis, MO resident David Olander while perusing a local Schnucks grocery store in University City. Olander noted that the asparagus weren't resting in water, and compared the stalks to the healthy-looking ones in suburban (re: white) neighborhoods..
"It was just sitting there dried out," Olander, a member of the city's human relations commission, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
He asked the assistant manager if he thought the comparably dried-out asparagus had anything to do with the store's location in a black neighborhood. According to Olander, the manager responded, "I certainly hope not."
The asparagus at the University City location was wildly different from the asparagus he saw eight miles away at a Schnucks in Ladue, where, as he told his fellow city commissioners, it sat looking beautiful in plenty of water.
Olander wrote a letter to the CEO of Schnucks, Scott Schnuck, which prompted a meeting with the store's employees. In the letter, Olander accused the chain of discriminating against minority communities, accusations that the company vehemently denied.
"Schnucks does not discriminate on any level," spokeswoman Lori Willis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Members of City Council were upset to learn that these meetings had occurred without their knowledge or consent. "We want businesses in University City, and in particular we want Schnucks," Councilwoman Paulette Carr said. "I think it's a very bad practice on our part to send our citizens to represent the city on sensitive issues such as this."
However, Mayor Shelley Welsch does not believe that the city commission acted outside of its boundaries. "If they perceive something is different, they have the right to ask why," she said.
Olander has admitted he was in an "ornery" mood the day he visited the University City grocer. "I just felt like stirring it up a little bit, letting them know that somebody cares," he said, according a recording during a meeting on the issue.
But the asparagus wasn't the only issue Olander brought up in the meetings. He also cited liter in the store's parking lot, out-of-date food being offered, warm coolers and lack of general cleanliness.
Spokeswoman Lori Willis explained that the water the asparagus had supposedly not been sitting in that day had simply tipped over, and the problem was quickly corrected.
"That meeting was the first we had heard of these concerns," Willis said. "The University City Schnucks is a clean store. It's just not a brand-new facility."
