The restaurant equity revolution will not be Instagrammed

They were saying all the right things — things that sounded like change was coming, things that mimicked the language of the queer, feminist and restorative justice movements that have gained prominence in national political discourse over the past few years: “We stand with survivors.” A search for “accountability, restoration, and reparations for everyone.” They sounded radical. This summer, riding a wave of nationwide racial reckoning, restaurant workers had confronted their bosses on social media. Accusations of toxic and discriminatory work environments popped on Instagram. Staffers demanded a response, and a lot of times, they got it. Some establishments like Oakland’s Nyum Bai and S.F.’s Dandelion Chocolate acknowledged the wrongs they had committed and instituted structural changes like diversity trainings. The momentum picked up, and anonymous accusations popped up on accounts that aggregated complaints, like 86dlistbayarea. I got the sense that many of the people writing these posts, who were hoping for resolution and reparations outside of the traditional criminal and civil justice framework, were people of color and/or people who found resonance in queer and feminist political work — the people most likely to be subject to workplace discrimination and harassment in the food industry. It felt like a…
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