“Outrage” by Ray Schellinger

The restaurant chain was trying to figure out how to improve its market share. Since 2019 Cracker Barrel sales were down 19%, and they had begun a series of subtle changes to attract the customers they were losing and to reach out to a new clientele. The logo was the latest change in this series, and was chiefly an attempt to create an image which would be easy to identify on a cell phone screen, as the company was trying to push its app as a potential component of increased sales. They felt the older logo was too intricate for such a purpose.

Then came the outrage, largely from the right-wing, with many people, mostly white, claiming that the company was rejecting its roots as it reached out to a different clientele. Some of the initial criticisms accused Cracker Barrel of being “woke.” In fact, the whole issue gained traction after Donald Trump, Jr. reposted a comment on X from an account called the “Woke War Room” which stated that the change was an effort to reach out to a more diverse clientele.

Only in such a perverse and racist world would people object to a for-profit restaurant chain trying to expand its customer base. Only in a perverse and racist world would people look at this simple logo change as a reason to be offended. After Don Jr’s post, President Trump then joined the fray, posting on X his desire for the logo to be changed back to the original. Which the company did, the same afternoon.

The connection I make of all this to the gross injustices in this world, such as the genocide in Gaza and to the human rights violations going on daily in the ICE raids is this: Much of the White right-wing public is looking everywhere to find a reason to be offended. The people that started this protest were not just perplexed about a logo they didn’t like, they were offended. Many threatened to boycott the restaurant. Imagine that. They would boycott a restaurant that they profess to love because they were offended. By what? Was it that they felt they were being discriminated against in some way? That their culture was being threatened? Could you please tell me if this change of a logo offended you? If so, why?

Yet, I have not seen this level of outrage, or any outrage at all, among the white right-wing US population over issues of an ongoing genocide in Gaza and Ethnic Cleansing in the West Bank by a government that we support. Hundreds of thousands of lives are in imminent danger of starvation; dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent people are being killed every day as they gather at food distribution points. They are deliberately cut down by sniper’s bullets and bombs just because they gather in hopes to receive some rice and water.

I don’t hear a whimper from most white right wing evangelicals about it. Neither does the administration seem to care. There are no threats of boycotts of the companies which are profiting off of this destruction.

There is no outrage from white America over the abuses of legal immigrants in this country being denied due process, being detained indefinitely and in many cases deported with no justification (other than a tattoo). There are no calls to elected officials to change course and offer compassion, to reinstate refugee resettlement programs, or to allow people once again to apply for asylum. It is almost entirely silence.

The organization I work for is dedicated to serving the least of these in this world. I sense in the innermost part of my soul that I am called to protect, to minister to, and advocate for the victims of genocide in Gaza and the strangers/neighbors at our doorstep to who we are refusing welcome.

I don’t understand a church culture in the US that is outraged by Cracker Barrel changing its logo, but seems to disregard entirely the injustices which are happening in front of our eyes.