Rachel Ray annoys me. Her “simple”, so-called 20 minute recipes and happy happy cooking piss off my struggling to put a Latino meal on the table while blogging and chasing two kids. But I wouldn’t call Rachel Ray a terrorist or that she supports terrorists because she’s wearing an “Arab looking” scarf while selling Dunkin Donuts iced coffee drinks. But conservatives, among them Michelle “I suffer from self-hate ” Malkin, think that the scarf Ms. Ray wore during a DD’s ad:

looked too much like a keffiyeh, what Malkin describes as “the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.

. And Dunkin Donuts said: ok we’ll pull the ad. Stupid move Dunkin Donuts.

First off, because you see an “Arab looking” scarf doesn’t mean that Rachel Ray or Dunkin Donuts is sending coded messages to Osama Bin Laden or any other boogie man. An “Arab looking” scarf doesn’t mean terrorism just like the mini skirt I’m wearing doesn’t mean “puta-ish Rican”. Are we, as people of color, reduced to what our clothes say about us. Yes, clothes can be powerful symbols, but this “Arab looking” scarf was being totally appropriated by Rachel Ray for Cristo’s sake. And according to my in the fashion industry mami, “Those types of scarfs are totally in style now”.

Various organizations are now calling for a boycott of Dunkin Donuts, for caving into anti-Arab sentiment.

Now, I like Dunkin Donuts Iced coffee,especially on warm days like today, even if I always have to send it back because they put too much milk in and even if my abuela and mom think I an disrespecting my Latina coffee culture by drinking coffee cold. Oh wait maybe we should protest that!

Via / Flickr