The Politics of Donuts

A longtime Kansas City favorite, Lamar’s Donuts, is moving back to the heart of the city. Lamar’s is tasty and their French Twist is good enough to justify enduring the diabetic coma that will follow but there’s always been something odd about this local pusher of fry bread.

When I was a kid, I loved visiting Lamar’s with my Mom on a Saturday morning. We’d stand it line and notice a great diversity of people waiting for their order. There were suits, Black people, doctors, people from the neighborhood and white teenagers. Outside, luxury cars, station wagons and Volkswagens (the official hippie car) waited in the parking lot. I always wondered why there were so many white people in this spot than in any other corner of my neighborhood.

And then I learned the term “hipster.” Hipsters love urban hangouts and the opportunity to mingle with the same Black people that their parents avoid. As long as it’s relatively safe, a hipster will seek out a racially integrated setting in order to seem trendy. Unlike “posers” who only show up that the most exclusive and widely acclaimed occasions, hipsters actively look for the opportunity to earn some pathetic semblance of street cred.

When a hipster comes back to the office with a box of Lamar’s donuts, it’s like their bringing back the spoils of an urban safari back to the safe, white inner sanctum of the corporate world. The announcement of “I got Lamar’s!” to the office is usually accompanied by a smug smirk directed at all of the soccer moms. As if to say, “See, I can go around Black people and not get scared. I’m adventurous! Yeah, I could have been raped because of this sugary treat but it’s worth it to prove that I’m cooler than you. Suck on your Krispy Kreme bitch. I’m down!”

Want proof? The East Midtown location has almost always done great business but in 1993 Lamar’s donuts tired to franchise the operation and it was a gigantic failure. Why? Because nobody wants to pay more for the same kind of donut that you can get at grocery store or some other place. Purchasing donuts from Lamar’s on Linwood and Main falsely signifies that you’re “okay” with the darkies. Sure, you may not want to live with them, you don’t like to hire or promote them, you don’t want your daughter dating one but if you pick up a few dozen donuts in a black neighborhood, all of a sudden you’re a decent guy.

Despite a few meager improvements to the area surrounding Linwood and Main, the locale is still predominantly Black and shitty. While the earlier failure of the store might have rested more with the over extension of their franchise business or just bad management . . . there is still a lot of white guilt in this town on which they can capitalize.