Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
What’s on the Menu at Georgia Eatery? A Racist Slur, Again
We can’t vouch for the cuisine at the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Paulding County, Georgia, but owner Patrick Lanzo serves a heaping plate full of racist rhetoric. His most recent offering: “Obamas plan for healthcare: Nigger rig it.”
Lanzo told an Atlanta TV reporter recently the sign was a critique of current health reform plans, not a racist message. He showed off pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela on the walls of his restaurant, and a 2005 NAACP membership card as proof. Of course, there’s also a mannequin wearing a Klan robe in the eatery. And Lanzo has a history of racist ruminations. A few years ago, a sign outside his restaurant asked in response to the Michael Jackson pedophilia trial: “Is Michael Jackson not guilty because he is a nigger or money.”
Other signs have included messages such as “Damn Yankees may have taken our niggers but not our guns” and “Are most lawyers just a lower form of a nigger.”
Lanzo has hosted annual music festivals of neo-Nazi skinheads. His restaurant’s website includes an image of a caricature of a robed Klansman urinating on Obama. Still, he denies being a racist. He told a reporter in 2005 that, if he’s a racist, then he’s a racist against everybody. Indeed, there is evidence that Lanzo is an equal opportunity bigot. Among the other signs he has displayed: “Immigration reform, kiss my white ass, send all illegals home,” and, “Bush, lets kick some sand niggers ass.”
Not exactly food for thought.
on October 14th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
The only thing that Mr Lanzo hates more than black people is proper punctuation.
on October 14th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
^ Oops, irony.
on October 14th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
A rose by any other name… regardless of how this goober self identifies, he is a racist. Full stop; What concerns me is that his views are obviously not repugnant to his community or he would have gone out of business years ago.
Paulding County appears to be 20 miles northwest of Atlanta, so it would appear things have not changed that much in Georgia.
on October 14th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I really htink some type of punishment should be give n out because of this. This particular man is bold in his racism and doin g this in a public establishment.
on October 14th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Boycotting his eatery may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, yet its still just as effective, as sanctions.
on October 14th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Most states have civil rights laws against doing this sort of thing in a public accomodation, but this is in a cracker state, so who knows.
He’s intimidating blacks from coming to a restaurant open to the public. I bet it’s illegal. Or grounds for a lawsuit.
I hope someone files a complaint.
on October 15th, 2009 at 9:52 am
There’s a law that governs this vert situation. It is called the First Amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Lanzo is a repugnant, ignorant fool and I find what he says to be horrible, but he still has the right to say it. Worse are the people who continue to go to his establishment, though they know what kind of person he is.
on October 15th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I’m sure you notice, through his writing, that this is definitely not a man of intelligence. I’d hate to taste what his food must be like. But as long as the hills are full of billies, there will be people like this.
Pray for them… during your boycotts. Remember, in this area there will be no help from law enforcement. They’re all crooked!
on October 15th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I say, let him do what he wants. If the people that live or do business around his area are cool with that then that tells you all you need to know.
on October 15th, 2009 at 11:34 am
What is the origin of the last name Lanzo?
on October 15th, 2009 at 11:53 am
As offensive, repugnant and downright vile, this racist language is, Phil is correct that we are ALL covered by the First Amendment to the Constitution with rights to speak our minds, or lack of them, as we wish. Mr Lanzo is definitely a racist and nothing he will ever say will convince anyone that he is not. He has already convicted himself with his vile-spewing words. I was born in the south and love the south but not his kind of people. I am embarrassed and ashamed for him and by him.
on October 15th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I agree that, while he may be protected by the constitution, he is ignorant and just plain stupid. It is scary to me to realize this still exists on this planet and that he continues to get by with it. He obviously still has customers who don’t mind which puts them in the same category. For those people who might be aware of history in NW Missouri in 1981, they will know what I mean by send him to Skidmore.
on October 15th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
All that use of the n-word (a black friend of mine, back in high school, “okayed” me to use it, but I still choose not to) reminds me off the cesspool in the internet know as Encyclopedia Dramatica. You guys sure he’s not just another “b/tard”? Maybe his lack off proper punctuation/humanity is just an “act” for their brand of “humor”.
…
Or maybe he is just a racist scumbag.
on October 15th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
We lived in Northeast Georgia for several years in the early 1990s. While we were there, the local government took a local resident to court over a lawn display in his yard, which faced a major highway in the area.
This guy had taken a bunch of garden gnomes and painted them white, so they looked like KKK members in white pointy hoods, and had them surrounding a statuette of a caricature black man. Each little KKK gnome was holding a rope that connected to a noose around the black guy’s neck. Arranged tastefully around this tableau were big hand-lettered signs proclaiming various racist declarations and “jokes.”
The county was using the local sign ordinance to try to force the owner to take down this disgraceful display. He, of course, insisted he was just exercising his First Amendment rights. One day while the case was on trial, one of us saw him and two comrades striding across the town square toward the courthouse wearing full Klan regalia. The court did rule in the county’s favor, to the best of our recollection.
on October 15th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
True Dakotahgeo.
With a guy who openly puts up a sign like that in front of his dining place, it’s clear that he sucks at advertising/marketing for his restaurant.
I wouldn’t want to know what his food taste like.
on October 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
You people are hypocritical busybodies. Who are you to edit him? If you like diversity, you should be glad to know some people don’t think like you do.
on October 16th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Well, at least we’re thinking! The same simply can’t be said for anyone that agrees with that loser!
on October 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
What a Klever response, Kountry Kousin. And who said KKKrackers had no sense of humour?
on October 17th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
The first thing I did when I read this was gasp and cover my mouth. I am always shocked at the level of disrespect that’s been given to President Obama. But this…this is disgusting and disheartening.
I am saddended that his eatery is still open and that his community obviously values his establishment and the language used therein. However, I agree with Phil – he has the right to say the terrible things he does. Just as we have the right to say what we are saying now. *sigh*
on October 17th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I have always had a little quip that goes “the first one to say ‘but I’m not a racist’ – is one!”
The little rule have played itself true time and again!
on October 19th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Fortunately this nut job doesn’t reflect the ideology of most of white America. His slurs are bigoted and offensive. This is what makes freedom of speech so hard – the man is an obvious racist but he has a right to speak his mind.
on October 19th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I am sorry but the sad thing here is that the more we bring attention to these ignorant attitudes the more damage we do for equality. The first Amendment gives us freedom of speech. not freedom of speech as long as someones feelings are not hurt. When we started down this road the enitial intent was to pass laws “Hate Crime Laws” to help the minorities in this country. First rule is that a law enacted to legislate ones opinion is just down right stupid. If we want to change opinion we must start with changing the behavior and seperatist attitude of the offended. Then and only then can we see a change in perseption of the ofender. All we have done is send the offender into the shadows and changed nothing. When I cleaned up my own Yard I did not get my neighbors after me or calling me a slob….
on October 19th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
What a jackass. He obviously is of limited intelligence or has been seriously warped in his life.
However, he does have first amendment protections, as does anyone who wishes to legally protest on public property either in front of or near his place of business.
He is rude and offensive, as are those who enjoy calling an entire state “cracker”…another sure sign of intelligence and deep thought.
on October 19th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I think Snorlax deserves an article here for his “cracker state” comment?
Or is that type of hate allowed?
-john
on October 21st, 2009 at 3:08 am
Dear Kountry Kousin ~ If we’re all busy bodies by reading and commenting on a published article, then you are nothing but an eavesdropper… and a moron. We like our diversity just fine, thanks very much. If you don’t, perhaps you should go back to your out-house loving man and fix his canned dinner before one of us educates you and you realize that you shouldn’t really be married to your first cousin, even if you are over eighteen.
on October 29th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Are you serious? It’s the 21st century. What are we to think of a person like this with such a small mind? Grow up, get a clue and get God!
on November 1st, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Cindy, I hope you’re open-minded enough to understand that to some of us, God has different names although a similar message is found.
on September 17th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I live in Paulding County, GA and have lived in GA all my life. I am white, Republican, and believe in freedom of speech. I also DO NOT believe in being racist and offensive in such a public display. What he chooses to do inside his business is one thing but he is directly across the road from a church and in a rural area where you may have no other option but to pass by his sign. On tv and radio one can change the station if offended but an outdoor sign is completely different. Fortunately I only am only by that way a few times a year but the latest sign reads “3 years of the nixxer and no change”. I am appalled to read this has been going on for some time now.