BUT the real story is that one beleaguered woman, Lisa T. Jackson working in the capacity of General Manager for Bubba's Restaurant endured 5+ years of lower pay, sexual harassment, and physical abuse at the hands of Earl "Bubba" Hiers, Paula Deen's brother.
You can read the Lisa T. Jackson v. Paula Deen, Earl Hiers transcript here.
Many people have come to Paula's defense, saying things like "We all make mistakes" "Blacks say nigger all the time" "Food Network is a hypocrite" "Jesus will save her" and other inane comments.
The real issue is not about saying nigger. It is about how one hard working woman, Lisa T. Jackson was hired, reluctantly at first,
"You're everything I've never wanted, but everything I need, a woman to clean my business up...you should take that as a compliment" Bubba told Lisa,
to save the failing business of Uncle Bubba's Seafood & Oyster House.
Bubba and the other male managers did not believe that a woman had the ability to turn things around and make his venture profitable. But Ms. Jackson did so in a matter of months. Was she rewarded for her efforts? No. She was paid less than the male managers of the other restaurants of Deen Enterprises. She was exposed to pornography in the cramped office she shared with Bubba. She had to make up for the cash Bubba was stealing directly from the register to the tune of $25,000 a month without recording or accounting for it. She had to smooth things over with the black employess who worked the kitchen where they were addressed as "monkey", i.e. "I wanna fire every one uh them monkeys in that kitchen!" -Earl Bubba Hiers. and "nigger" of course. Bubba's daily consumption of a white Styrofoam cup filled to the brim with whiskey also signaled Ms. Jackson and the terrified kitchen employess what any given workday had in store for them.
Ms. Jackson also had to endure having her bonus denied her by a bible thumping Karl Schumacher because she had gotten a divorce, thereby mocking the holy sanctity of marriage. inSchumacher's view.
Finally after 5 years of putting up with multiple abuses Ms. Jackson had no choice but to quit her job. After having done so, Deen Ent. made sure that no other vendors or business in Savannah would hire her, forcing Lisa Jackson to have to move to another state in order to earn a living.
The bottom line is that it angers me that everyone is focusing on Paula Deen saying nigger and not the real story; how Paula betrayed a woman who was struggling and succeeding in spite of Earl Bubba Hiers disgusting behavior.
| Bubba & Paula, 2 dummies |
If Paula Deen was smart, she would have settled this matter out of court and paid Ms. Jackson the $1 million. But neither she nor her brother Bubba have evidenced very much intelligence. Now I have zero sympathy for Deen Enterprises and especially none for Uncle Bubba's restaurant. I would hope that any decent human avoids that place and boycotts all the Deen ventures as well.
