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    RandyMagnumJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:13pm

    I grew up in the hardcore scene, and knew many a skinhead. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in that scene from that era that didn’t. But that seems like a sincere apology. Especially considering that once you vocally denounce Nazi douchebags you essentially become the enemy.

    Almost everyone was an asshole of some kind in their youth. This is silly.

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      Raaaaaaaadaniel ChicagoRandyMagnum
      5/13/16 1:15pm

      Yeah, but you're forgetting the worst part about the guy.... He's a food critic.

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      RandyMagnumRaaaaaaaadaniel Chicago
      5/13/16 1:17pm

      I dunno, though. While I can see that as the most pretentious job in the world, there's still something punk rock about getting paid to eat free food.

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    GeorgeGeoffersonLivesJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:09pm

    and liberation of the white working class.

    Wait, what? From what? Who?

    And it’s not as if there’s a clear connection—or conflict of interest—between his racist past and his present ability to visit and review restaurants.

    Well, maybe not explicitly, but given that the restaurant world is about as ethnically mixed as you’ll find in any industry, it’s easy to draw connections to why his past would be a problem as it relates to being a food critic, probably more so than most jobs in fact. We’re talking a cultural job.

    I was prepared not to care about this, but it seems even in his initial apology - which seemed sincere - he’s lying when we see the last picture. That’s not to say I have any real opinion on whether he should be fired or not, but it definitely makes me think he might be offering this apology disingenuously.

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      CleverlyAdaptedGeorgeGeoffersonLives
      5/13/16 1:12pm

      the white working class IS oppressed though, just like all working class people. too many end up blaming minorities but there’s a reason they are seeking someone to blame- they are struggling

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      MattGeorgeGeoffersonLives
      5/13/16 1:14pm

      I don’t see him taking a single photo with someone he ran into at a bar from his past as being indicative of a full on relapse into being a skinhead or some sort of evidence that he’s secretly still a skinhead all this time. Context matters, as much as people like to argue otherwise.

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    Younger KennedyJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:09pm

    Hmm. This is an interesting one. I don’t really have a specific answer, except that in my mind, ending racism means giving people the chance to come around and leave their hate behind. We can be distrustful of them to some extent, and we can expect them to answer for their past beliefs (obviously the photo from 2012 is worth looking into), but it’s an impossible standard if they can never be redeemed.

    Nelson Mandela became friends with his former prison guard. Baseball players came around to Jackie Robinson, etc. etc. I get that those are cliched examples, but what’s the way forward if not to give these people a chance?

    I don’t understand the NY food/restaurant scene well enough to comment on what Huang said, but his perspective makes an equal amount of sense to me as well.

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      EvanrudeJohnsonYounger Kennedy
      5/13/16 1:18pm

      The way I see it, if Robert Byrd can go from the KKK to a Democratic party leader, this guy can at least blog about fucking restaurants.

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      jezbannedYounger Kennedy
      5/13/16 1:23pm

      I chalk this more up to a lack of his current discretion rather than a potential roadblock to redemption. He knew he had a well-documented past that would embarrass his employer. He probably should have been up front about that when seeking a job where he knew his name would go out in public with some frequency. I’d probably suspend him too, less so for his yourhful indiscretions and moreso for his present indiscretions.

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    LongSnakeJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:05pm

    Conflicted...on one hand, I don’t think your past should affect your present if you have moved past it. On the other, food writers and Critics are completely talentless hacks that deserve every bad thing that happens to them...

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      MBCockLongSnake
      5/13/16 1:10pm

      Just think, if he had just grown up on N*ggerhead Ranch, he could have become the Governor of Texas.

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      Cam/ronLongSnake
      5/13/16 1:11pm

      Well, you can get a documentary made about you if you’re good at writing about Ethnic Food for Anglo readers.

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    det-devil-ailsJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:27pm

    Racism is one thing. We all have our private predjudices. It’s a shameful fact about human nature at this point in our history.

    However, white nationalism goes hand-in-hand with violence. I am going to assume that in between all the punk music and cheap beer this asshole curb stomped some innocent people for fun.

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      Younger Kennedydet-devil-ails
      5/13/16 3:40pm

      That’s a pretty big assumption. He certainly didn’t put himself in a position to earn the benefit of the doubt, but even so, that’s a bit of a stretch for me. White nationalism and racism are too difficult for me to parse to be able to assume that a white nationalist is any more prone to violence than a run of the mill racist.

      I’d also argue that given the association between punk/hardcore music and white nationalism that if anything, the manner in which he was associated would suggest that he would be less likely to have been violent since he came to it through music (read: less likely than an average white nationalist whatever you take that to mean).

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      det-devil-ailsYounger Kennedy
      5/13/16 3:51pm

      Skinheads were always looking for a fight. That’s why they became skinheads in the first place. If a kid from that scene was looking for a fight, but hated racism, they became s.h.a.r.p.s so they could always fight the skinheads. Violence was at the core. Not music.

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    ARP2J.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:14pm

    So, when did he disassociate himself? If he stopped doing it a few years ago, I could see the outrage. But having this following 30 years later? I’m not so sure.

    Also, is this his only statement on the matter? Or has he done something to not just stop being racist, but to redeem what he’s done.

    In my head, I compare this to criminal justice reform, where a crime earlier in life can haunt them for a very long time, even if they haven’t done anything since, and they may regret their decisions.

    Yes, I get attitudes v. actions, but at what point do we forgive and/or say they’re not that person anymore?


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      MattARP2
      5/13/16 1:19pm

      Also, is this his only statement on the matter? Or has he done something to not just stop being racist, but to redeem what he’s done.

      I get what you’re saying with this but at the same time, I’m uncomfortable with that standard, because who gets to set it and how do you ever ‘prove’ you’ve really moved past that part of your life? Sometimes i feel that people that tack on that additional condition of having to redeem oneself above and beyond simply stopping being a racist dick, are being disingenuous, and that for many, there will never be ‘enough’ that can be done.

      In a way, your allusion to the criminal justice system is rather apt because, there is an unfortunate tendency to continue to demonize people for past crimes even after they’ve long since met the conditions of their legal punishment.

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      XsinkingshipXARP2
      5/13/16 1:23pm

      I grew up in a racist family. I probably said something racist somewhere and my high school “punk” friends were witnesses to it when I was too dumb to know better . I’m now in my 30's and no longer racist. I rescue animals…is that enough public service or do I need to join some anti-racist group to cleanse myself in your eyes? I'm not being snarky, I'm asking a legit question.

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    ThenSAJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:12pm

    Currently, somewhere in America, there is an engineer working on the design of a new maglev train to connect San Fran to LA just praying and hoping that nobody finds out he was a Juggalo in high school

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      Raaaaaaaadaniel ChicagoThenSA
      5/13/16 1:15pm

      He should probably wash the paint off his face then

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      ReburnsABurningReturnsThenSA
      5/13/16 1:21pm

      I wonder how many budding Wall Street analysts are terrified that their employers might find out they once spent an unauthorized night in Zucotti Park?

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    BobbySeriousJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:03pm

    “Who is forming the identity of this industry? The people living in this city? The people cooking the food? The people serving us? Or the former skinhead assigning restaurant reviews?”

    GIF
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      toothpetardBobbySerious
      5/13/16 1:04pm

      It may be why everybody’s coming home for lunch these days.

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      Cam/ronBobbySerious
      5/13/16 1:06pm

      “Who is forming the identity of this industry?”

      The boring answer: the customers.

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    Sid and FinancyJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 1:12pm

    Leader of the infamous “racial purity” hardcore band Mom Genes.

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      fudgesicleuighyrSid and Financy
      5/13/16 1:28pm

      They were the first big racist punk band. He just got old like everybody does.

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      Sid and Financyfudgesicleuighyr
      5/13/16 3:35pm

      OK?

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    dragonhorseJ.K. Trotter
    5/13/16 2:03pm

    This is bullshit. I was in ‘the NYC punk scene’ in the 80s, too, and even had several scuffles with nazi punks. I fucking HATED them. (in fact, I’m pretty sure I threw a couple of bottles at English Nick’s head), but, ffs, it WAS decades ago. NYC was rife with racial tensions (remember the election of Dinkins, and how it was gonna ‘defuse the situation’? Anybody?) While the world demands (correctly) that people change and evolve, that same world slams people because they had something to evolve FROM?

    Also, I do not see this pic as a ‘good friends hanging out’ so much as one akin to a HS reunion photo ‘oh, shit, THOSE guys? Yeah I’ll be in your picture, but then leave me the fuck alone’ pic. And, although Dick Manitoba is a little fucked up in the head, sometimes, Manitoba’s is a place for old punks, regardless of political leanings, to hang out on occasion. Give this guy a break.

    Reading his apology, I found it to be one of the more sincere ones for egregious behavior that I’ve come across. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Solares would willingly don my old, torn-to-shit NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF shirt.

    And finally, Huang (even though he admits it, kinda) is a part of TODAY’S cond0-izing, Americanizing, culturally appropriatizing culture. He was in diapers when YDL was formed. I’m not saying that racism was appropriate at any time EVER (because it fucking was NOT), but Huang has no idea of the mindset of a kid trying to find protection from, and the excuses for, fucked up behavior in 1980s NYC. Hindsight is 20/20.

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      blindcavefishdragonhorse
      5/13/16 3:08pm

      “While the world demands (correctly) that people change and evolve, that same world slams people because they had something to evolve FROM?”

      This.

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      DumpDrunpfdragonhorse
      5/13/16 6:53pm

      I echo your sentiments. Nick was my roommate for two years, and joining YDL was his biggest mistake. We probably know each other.

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