Every weekend, Kenyon’s Black community is subjected to hateful images at the hands of the Curbside Grill food truck. We as a student body need to boycott Curbside Grill, as the food truck regularly comes to campus with the chef wearing a Confederate flag hat.
Curbside Grill does serve a purpose. For all the students who need food at night, the food truck gives people a hot meal. However, when Curbside Grill comes to campus, it gives me an all-too-familiar fear: the fear of being a Black person in America. I always make sure to drive the speed limit, I am always respectful to police and I make sure I present as friendly to those around me so that I can stay alive. The Confederate flag represents the whipping, rape and torture of my ancestors in the name of chattel slavery.
The Civil War, fought over slavery, allowed my ancestors to be free and cemented my existence today as an American citizen. The Confederacy fought against my right to exist as a free human. They fought for persecution, violence and abuse. They fought to keep themselves rich off the labor of my own ancestors. People that choose to wear, wave or otherwise display Confederate flags are calling for violence against Black people. Curbside Grill is okay with the violence that the Confederacy supported. In fact, they endorse it by allowing an employee to wear a Confederate flag hat.
At first, when I saw this Confederate flag, I was scared about the possibility of violence. But then, I became frustrated as I saw Kenyon College students were buying from the food truck. I thought to myself, “Why would you patronize an establishment that openly has racist views?” As a community that prides itself on being an empathetic and safe place for all, we need to put our money where our mouth is and stop buying from Curbside Grill. There are other options for getting food late at night, such as Truckin’ Trav, the Village Market and even ordering delivery on an app.
In this time where the federal government is actively taking away the rights of marginalized people, it is easy to feel helpless, like there is nothing we can do to change the situation that we are living in. However, boycotting Curbside Grill is something that Kenyon students can do to stand up against hate and support Black people on campus. Non-Black people on this campus, this is your opportunity to be an ally. As a Black person, I am not asking; I am demanding that everyone on this campus boycott Curbside Grill until they fire the employee that wears the Confederate flag hat and answer as to why they allowed this to happen in the first place.
Mina Ruffle ’28 is an international studies and Spanish major from Burlington, VT. You can reach her at ruffle1@kenyon.edu.
