Originally submitted by: Sandy Bottoms On Language

We completed our podcast interview this morning with Hannah Raskin and Catherine Dann Roeber of American Table Culinary Tours. Their food tour investigate local foods from around the country, and their homecoming Ann Arbor trip this week has sparked controversy. An event at Zingerman's Road House on Maple Road in the Westgate Shopping Center this Friday, June 27 features traditional Ypsilanti dishes from the 1930's. The event has come under scrutiny for being marketed as a "four-course Ypsitucky" feast. The name Ypsitucky refers to the large segment of Ypsilanti's community with roots in Kentucky and the South. Many families settled here to work in the Willow Run plants to generations ago, and the name has been both reviled and embraced. This is a battle, in this linguist's opinion, over political correctness v. cultural ownership of words and phrases. There are those who are offended by the potentially derogatory term. But there are also those in the Ypsilanti community with roots in the South who embrace and accept the term. In particular, where this Ypsilanti dinner is concerned, and the Ypsilanti Southern heritage is being celebrated through fine dining, this should be seen as nothing more than a political correctness issue. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti place this Southern population in a corner. The other communities in Ypsilanti tend to distance themselves from this cultural group, and there is a prejudice in the area that this controversy has once again exposed. The shame of the elite is on display. How can Ann Arbor simultaneously reject and defend 'Ypsitucky?' What is the opinion of the Ypsilanti community? Hanna Raskin wisely pointed out that beneath the most recent article about the name controversy, there was another piece about recent layoffs at the Willow Run plant. And new factories opening up in Kentucky. The Ypsilanti-Kentucky connection, this culture's history, and the elite prejudices of Ann Arbor residents should shift their focus from potentially damaging words to the real problem of cultural stereotyping. Ann Arbor will never escape its City-in-a-bubble image if it alienates its own communities.