Tag Archives: Jesse Quackenbush

local news, media news

No coverage for Big Beaners

Given that I no longer live in Amarillo, Texas, I am at times prone to ask some of my snitches/sources/former colleagues about news events that occur there.

I did so the other day, inquiring with a media friend of mine about the status of the Big Beaners restaurant — opened by flashy and occasionally controversial Amarillo personal injury lawyer Jesse Quackenbush. My friend was pretty blunt: He chooses not to cover the story for his organization. Why? He believes it’s a non-story and that Quackenbush doesn’t deserve the publicity he is getting from all the hubbub surrounding the story.

You know … I kinda/sorta see my friend’s point.

Big Beaners is now closed. I had thought the city of Amarillo might have closed it on some sort of violation. My friend said a lack of business led to its closure.

Big Beaners had come under pretty intense fire because the term “beaners” is considered in many circles to be a slur against Latinos. It was a Mexican food joint, so I guess Quackenbush thought he would, um, push the envelope a bit by attaching that name to it. He stood by the name, which, by the way, I find offensive.

The strategy, if you want to call it that, didn’t work.

Is the story worth covering? I believe it is to some extent. I mean, I have devoted about four blog posts to it. This, though, likely is the last one. I don’t expect Quackenbush to reopen it. He is a smart enough fellow to know how to measure the consequence of a failed effort.

local news

‘Big Beaners’: Yeah, it smacks of ethnic slur

Now that we’re up to our eyeballs in discussion about racial insensitivity, racism in general and police conduct involving racial minorities, I want to discuss briefly an issue that has boiled up in Amarillo, up yonder in the Texas Panhandle.

A local lawyer, Jesse Quackenbush, wants to open a restaurant there that he has called “Big Beaners.” Hmm. It’s a Mexican food joint.

Now, when I hear the term “Beaners,” I think immediately of the ethnic slur associated with it. It’s a derogatory reference to people of Hispanic heritage.

Not surprisingly, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the NAACP and others have objected to Quackenbush’s use of the term.

Quackenbush, also not surprisingly, is pushing back. He says he intends no ethnic or racial animus by naming his business “Big Beaners.”

I know Quackenbush. Our paths have crossed a time or two over the years. We aren’t pals. We have jousted on occasion.

I just want to weigh in with this brief thought: “Big Beaners” is potentially offensive to people of Hispanic descent and I would have thought that the learned counselor, given his longstanding association with Amarillo and its growing Hispanic population, would be more sensitive to how “Big Beaners” would sound to many folks in the Texas Panhandle.

I won’t do business with this eatery. I no longer live in Amarillo. Even if I did, I wouldn’t spend any money there. Given that we’re talking these days a good deal about matters of race and sensitivity to others, I believe the time is right for me to weigh in on an issue affecting a community that I think I know fairly well.

If I had any kind of pull in Amarillo, I would suggest that Quackenbush change the name of the joint. Well, what do ya know? I just did suggest it.