Most human beings have a visceral instinct to protect a child. Whether in spirit, virtually via Facebook and other social media, or physically, we close ranks around the injured or threatened child. If someone is hurting them, we shield the child from harm, and some of us, including myself, hurt them back.
Most, but not all of us. Case in point: the management of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, who threw a 3-year old girl and her grandmother out because of the child’s appearance.
Really.
Victoria Wilcher is an adorable three-year old girl who was mauled by dogs in April 2014, who did severe damage to the right side of her face: she suffered a broken upper and lower jaw, broken nose, broken cheek bones and right eye socket, and lost her right eye entirely. Her lower jaw has been rebuilt, but more surgeries await her. The family is struggling to pay the medical bills. They have created a Facebook page, “Victoria’s Victories,” to document her recovery. Underneath a picture of Victoria, the family writes:
Does this face look scary to you?
Last week, Victoria’s grandmother, Kelly Mullins, took Victoria to a local KFC for lunch. Victoria isn’t eating very well yet, so Mullins ordered something she could eat. As she told reporters:
I ordered a large sweet tea and her some mashed potatoes and gravy because she was hungry. She was on a feeding tube at the time, but I figured she could just swallow [the potatoes]. They said, ‘We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers.’ [Victoria] understood exactly what they said.
Apparently, the little girl’s scars and eyepatch “scared” some customers, according to news reports. Mullins says Victoria was traumatized by the incident:
The right side of her face is paralyzed. She’s got a lot of surgeries to go through and she won’t even look in the mirror anymore. When we go to a store, she doesn’t even want to get out [of the car]. She’s 3 years old and she’s embarrassed about what she looks like. She’s embarrassed, and I hate it because she shouldn’t be. It ain’t her fault.
Victoria didn’t feel this way before her visit to the KFC. Before the encounter, she was as happy as a three-year old could be who is facing such an ordeal. Afterwards, Mullins said, she has been a different child. She cried all the way home from the restaurant, and has been morose and upset ever since. Her grandmother says:
No matter what’s wrong with a person, if a person’s different, if a person’s scarred, or is a different color or anything, people shouldn’t be discriminated against. Her being 3 years old and already being discriminated against, it makes me mad, because I know for the rest of her life it’s going to be like that.
KFC reached into the bottom of its cold corporate heart and sent an email to a local television station who had reported the incident. KFC wrote:
KFC launched an investigation as soon as we were made aware of this report. We take this very seriously, as we have zero tolerance for any kind of hurtful or disrespectful actions toward our guests. Our investigation is ongoing, but we have been in touch with the family and are committed to doing something appropriate for this beautiful little girl and her family. We will also work with the franchisee to take appropriate action at the restaurant once the specifics of the incident are determined.
It also sent a tweet to a local newspaper:
We are working hard to make this right for the family. We do not tolerate the behavior that happened in our restaurant.
We’ll see just what, if any, actions the franchise takes in the aftermath of its traumatizing a little girl. As for Victoria, she has more surgeries to weather, but, her grandmother says:
She surprised us. I think she surprised everybody. She’s a fighter.
You can visit Victoria’s Facebook page and tell her what a lovely child she is. And, if you like, you can join in with the tsunami of angry responses flooding Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Facebook page. You can also contact KFC directly:
Yum Brands — KFC
1441 Gardiner Lane
Louisville, KY 40213
Corporate Phone Number: 1-502-874-8300
Fax Number: 1-502-454-2410
Customer Service Phone Number: 1-800-225-5532
Online feedback form.
Side note: Some people are using Victoria’s injuries to demand a ban on pit bulls. Victoria was attacked by two pit bulls belonging to her grandfather, who along with his girlfriend is facing charges as a result of the attack. (The dogs were killed shortly thereafter. His other eight — yes, eight — pits were taken by the county’s Animal Control office and almost certainly euthanized.) Not only is that an overreaction, it is entirely wrong. I know dozens of pit bulls, and I agree entirely with pit bull rescuer and owner Leah Thomson of Jackson, who says pits are only savage when they are made that way by their owners. Those owners train them for dogfighting or to “be mean” to impress their fellow testosterone-driven, idiot buddies. I raised German shepherds at a time when they were viewed with the same suspicion and fear as pits are currently regarded. Like shepherds, pits are very loyal, very protective, very assertive, and very responsive. If you raise them to be loving family animals, they will be the best dogs a family could have. If you teach them that they are to be savage beasts who attack everyone who isn’t you, that’s just what they will do, with the same willingness they bring to anything their owners ask them to do. They will become, to the best of their abilities, the dog they think you want them to become. Pit bulls, or any dog, who are as wildly aggressive as her grandfather’s dogs are not “mean,” they are tortured, traumatized animals who have been tormented into becoming the savage brutes their owners want. There are very few bad dogs, but there are a plethora of bad owners.
H/T to “Vetwife” at the Daily Kos for providing the KFC/Yum corporate contact information.
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Published writer since 2001, focusing on politics, history, Web development, and other topics. First book is coming soon.
