Burger King should work quickly to find out whether allegations that two white workers in Pennsylvania conspired to spit on a black man's hamburger are true.

Cleveland trucker Glenn Goodwin filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Burger King, alleging that one white employee blocked his view while another spat on his burger.

According to the lawsuit, police found saliva on Goodwin's burger. If the allegations are true, the workers should be charged and barred from working in the food service industry.

If Burger King does not get to bottom of this, it could turn into a Denny's-type situation, where a systematic pattern of racism is unveiled. A class-action lawsuit was filed against Denny's after blacks say they were forced to prepay, wait longer for tables and not served as quickly as white restaurant-goers in 1993.

Denny's paid more than $54 million to settle the claim and then worked to restore its image, according to media reports. In 2003, the company was named one of the best for minorities workers by Fortune magazine.

According to Fortune, Denny's had "three minority members on its nine-member board and 46 percent of its franchises are owned by minorities. It had the highest proportion of employees undergoing diversity training of any of the companies surveyed. Almost 47 percent of Denny's employees, and almost 29 percent of its managers and officials, were members of minority groups."It's unclear whether these allegations are true or whether they could signal signs of trouble across all of Burger King's franchises.

However, one thing is clear. It's sad in this day and age that race is still used against people in even the smallest aspects of life. Those in the civil rights movement fought for African Americans to receive the same treatment as whites in public venues across this country.


For people that claim this country is post-racial, because we now have an African American president, claims like these prove we still have a long way to go.

This news could hurt Burger King as it struggles with profit declines and tries to expand its global brand. The restaurant is struggling because of the downturn in the economy and the effort by some Americans to become more health conscious.

Burger King should act swiftly and make sure its restaurant owners know that this behavior is not acceptable.

I don't want to have to worry about getting a little something extra with my burger solely because of my race.