Dennis Graham chimes in after brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Bens discontinue their racist branding.
The history some America’s favorite brands has incredibly racist connotations to it. And even though many them have been selling products as household staples for over a century, it’s only been in the past two weeks that they’ve decided to actually change this.
Drake‘s dad, Dennis Graham, chimed in on the racist branding Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s. Sharing a meme to Instagram Aunt Jemima flipping the middle finger, the post read, “Happy Retirement. 1889-2020. Make your own damn pancakes!” Graham captioned the post, “She was chained to a table by the ankle while she was cooking.” When someone commented, “Aint ya mama was chained to a table while cooking,” Graham simply responded, “Exactly.”
But it was another post that Graham shared detailing some disturbing history about racist branding in Memphis, specifically. Aughinbaugh Canning Company sold “Negro Head” branded canned seafood which Graham explained use to be in every grocery store back in the day.
“A lot you are too young to remember this but they had this shit in all grocery stores back in the day,” he wrote. “Black people didn’t eat these because they were considered a delicacy and only sold at your upper echelon stores,Sessel’s in Memphis Tennessee.”
What Graham didn’t mention is that the brand was initially called “N***er Head” before the NAACP pressured them to change it. Those changes occurred in 1962.