"Pop" Goes the Weasel

Yesterday, the management of the Detroit Zoo was called away from the business of figuring out how to keep the zoo afloat during the uncertain age of COVID-19 to deal with an unexpected problem - popcorn.  It turns out that Detroit Popcorn, one of the vendors that sells concessions at the Zoo, found itself in trouble yesterday after some comments made by the company's owner.  At best, the comments - referring to African-American protesters across the country - were stunningly tone deaf, and at worst were vehemently racist.  Soon, several people were flocking to the Detroit Zoo's Facebook page with one question - "What are you going to do about it?"

The decision, as it happened, was a fairly easy one.  The Zoo dropped them.  Fast, hard, and with no room for doubt about what led to their decision:

We've talked a lot over the years about helping our zoos and aquariums "Walk the Walk" to be good environmental stewards.  This has involved reducing our carbon footprints, reducing-reusing-recycling, protecting wildlife habitat on our own grounds, and several other steps to be good global citizens.  It's worth remembering that being a good citizen isn't just about the environment.  It's also about social justice.  We can't say that we're here to serve and educate and inspire our communities, and then go into business with someone who is blatantly contemptuous of a large swath of that community.

Not only is that bad business - it's just wrong.  The Detroit community seems to have seen how Detroit Zoo responded to Detroit Popcorn, and they approve and applaud it.  I would hope all zoos and aquariums wound behave in a similar manner to resisting racism and intolerance in their own communities.