For those who remember the restaurant, do you think "Sambo's" was so named specifically to insult black people?

No. If you look at their web page, SAMBO was part of the first name of one of the owners, and part of the last name of one of the other owners.

link – first paragraph.

It was the racists who screwed things up.

Sambo’s wasn’t “forced to shut down”; the original one in Santa Barbara is still open. But it was not a well managed chain and went bankrupt in 1979.

@elbanditoroso, Yes, I know. That was included in the details, along with the same link. I know it was long read.

@zenvelo Yes, they made an unprecedented decision to launch ”Their unique “Fraction of the Action” promotion – whereby managers were entitled to 20% of the profits from their stores, with employees allowed to bid for a percentage of the remaining profits – was an early company expansion plan and the growth of the company outpaced its control…” They just weren’t prepared for how well that worked.

But the allegations of racism and the expensive lawsuits that followed sure didn’t help. You know people started avoiding going there so they wouldn’t seem racist.

I believe they closed due to accusations of racism. So, racists caused a huge ruckus, as only racists can, and forced the closure!

Sambo was Indian, not black.

^^ Racism, the “anti-racist’s” stock in trade

Want to fight racism?

Get back to work, hire based on merit alone, go home, enjoy your cocktail, turn off liberal radio.

Yes, @SecondHandStoke. The fact that the kid was Indian was also noted in the details. Doesn’t anybody read those any more? Although, in fairness, in the 60’s and before,
anyone who wasn’t “white” was a target for racism.

^ Yes I read.

My point is that the whole “Sambo” racism thing is unfounded. This is because at least in the US only “racism” against blacks allows people to cash in.

In other words those that cry racism should be expected to do their homework like everyone else.

But then again, at least in the 21st century when did facts get in the way of the race hustler’s agenda?

No

There was nothing racist about it, absolutely nothing.

My husband was working at Sambo’s headquarters in Carpinteria, California at the time they went down. It was entirely due to a very bad business decision at the time to reverse the Fraction of the Action plan.

Additional Note: Hubby was fully vested in their retirement program at the time, but now that he is retirement age, there is no information available, and probably no money either.

I don’t think it was named as a racial insult. Even products like Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben, whose icons are obviously black, are not meant as insulting, though they may be insensitive.

Frankly. playing to overt racism wouldn’t be the foundation for a good business model, even in the 1960’s

More proof that racism is in the eye of the beholder.

@filmfann

Since I am not concerned about race I am going to look to Uncle Ben for rice if his is the best.

Aunt Jemima didn’t just make the best pancakes but she was an absolute ANIMAL in the sack.

I was reading details until my eyes rolled back in my head.

Heck, I knew the answer anyway, so I went to the answers, where I saw that @elbanditoroso was spot on.

Oops.
Seems that the answer as well as all the discussion pertinent to the question is in the details.
Nevermind.

Ha. I remember the story well, and in the illustration of my book, the boy was black. That was probably a mistake made by a later publisher as it was in Junior Trails which was a collection of stories. But I remember that the Tigers turned into “ghee” which is clarified butter and definitely an Indian condiment. Also, tigers live in India, there are none in Africa. I remember that well because of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ gaffe with the tiger in the original Tarzan story.
But there are far too many people who are always looking for shit to be offended about so they can put on a show of righteous outrage. Actually, I don’t really know why they do it. I know that there is always some sort of pay off for the things we do, but what exactly that pay off is for those type eludes me.
I know that ignorance plays a big part. The less you know about something, the easier it is to jump to a conclusion.

Well even considering the owners’ name, the association of Sambo with pancakes as well as the scenes depicted on the walls pretty much cinch the case for racism. The thing that must be remembered is that the chain was up and prosperous before anyone gave a shit whether or not black folks were offended, and there were no negative consequences to open racism.

…let me just add that when I was talking about people being offended I was actually not refering to people of color but to white people with an axe to grind.

@stanleybmanly I don’t understand what could be wrong with associating any ethnic group with pancakes. “They’re probably the earliest and most widespread cereal food eaten in prehistoric societies.” So sayeth Wikipedia.. And that makes sense.

And how do you figure the scenes depicted on the walls were racist? The scenes depict a child of color outwitting 4 hungry tigers. How is that racist? Just the fact that it was a brown kid who used his brains? Are they not supposed to have any?

@Jak, I think your answer above is spot on. They combined the last names of the founders, and as the civil rights movement geared up, it just went from there. I agree with folks who say that sometimes people just go looking for racism, especially in the 60’s.

@DutchessIII I’m not saying that the association of pancakes with ethnicity is derogatory. I’m saying that the choice of the name “Sambo’s” IS both deliberate and racist with the illustrations on the wall being the icing of confirmation on the cake of bigotry.

Well, it became offensive at some point. It originally meant “a person of mixed race, especially of black and Indian or black and European blood.” It came to us from the Latin American Spanish word “zambo.”

Also, could you please explain how the illustrations were offensive?

This is one of the illustrations of Sambo and the Tiger.

He’s whiter than me.

Right @zenvelo. I don’t see a thing wrong with it. Does anyone else?

@jca It depends on which version you see. Some of them are more African than Indian, but I honestly don’t remember those. I just remember his cool, glittery clothes and turban.

This is the illustration that appeared on the cover of the original version of Little Black Sambo. It was made by the book’s author, Helen Bannerman. She illustrated her own book. There have been many different versions published over the years, with illustrations in many different styles. People say that the original illustrations are racist, and I agree. It’s almost the textbook example of a pickaninny. There’s a reason we don’t have lawn jockeys anymore, either.

It makes no difference that the story is about pancakes, or that it is set in India, or that it is beloved by one’s very nice grandparents. These kinds of images have been used in children’s books and other types of stories all over the world. We should be able to recognize them for what they are.

As to the restaurant, I’d never heard of it before this question, but I wouldn’t jump to assume that the restaurant name was racist. I would, however, question the sanity of anyone who used that name for a restaurant now, given that “Sambo” is literally a synonym for the N word.

Well, now, yes. Of course. It was opened, and named, in 1957.
The illustrations I remember were really colorful. The clothes were really colorful, brocaded and stuff. Not the simple stuff Bannerman used.