How Can the GOP Be So Dumb?

In 1997 my father retired, and my parents moved from New Jersey down to a condo in the Florida town of Delray Beach. The development was located on Atlantic Avenue, a commercial thoroughfare which contained the usual smattering of supermarkets, fast-food outlets, discount store and medical practices — just what the old farts all need.

The first time I went down to visit my folks we had dinner and then Dad and I settled down to watch the Weather Channel to see what I was missing by being in Florida during the Christmas — New Year’s break.

At some point I got bored and decided to take a ride down Atlantic Avenue, eventually turning into the parking lot of a Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee and a snack to eat.

I walked into the Dunkin and to my absolute astonishment found myself being waited on by a guy who was obviously from Pakistan or some other Pacific Rim place.

This was the first time I was in a retail operation obviously owned by an immigrant who wasn’t white. Think I’m kidding? I’m not. My grandfather worked in the retail food store of a ‘landsman’ when he first came to the United States in 1923. By the 1940’s or 1950’s he owned his own little store which was eventually replaced by a supermarket which I think was the A&P.