Paula Deen to Work with Young, Fatherless Black Men at Steve Harvey’s Mentoring Camp

Paula Deen to Work with Young, Fatherless Black Men at Steve Harvey’s Mentoring Camp

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Who better to mentor fatherless young men than Paula Deen?

After being exiled for over a year following revelations that the butter-slinging chef routinely used racist language around her staff and even wanted black waiters at her party to act like slaves, Deen is now beginning her comeback tour. She announced this past June that she is launching her own online network, and thanks to Steve Harvey she is also going to be working with young men being raised by single mothers at Steve Harvey’s National Mentoring Camp.

The mission of the camp—comprised almost entirely of African-Americans—is “to share and teach the principles of manhood and dream building to young men.” And how does an avowed racist help with that?

“Paula and her team has agreed to take as many boys as I want to fly down to Savannah and teach them culinary skills,” Harvey said. “That, to me, is how you get something from something. There has to be a good behind everything.”

Deen is certainly entitled to try to resurrect her career, but is this really the appropriate venue for her to be doing it in? It doesn’t seem like a white woman with a troubled racial past should be dispensing life advice to vulnerable young black men; you’d think it’s kind of hard for her to find much common ground.

Harvey, obviously, doesn’t care about all that. To those who might criticize his decision, he has just one thing to say: “I don’t give a damn.”

[via The Root]

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