An unusual turn of events has caused something as simple as an oil change sticker from a GM dealer to cause a great deal of controversy. The story starts with a Buick and GMC dealer in Wisconsin putting a racial slur on an oil change sticker, and it ends with the customer receiving a free car from a different dealership.
Makayla Starks brought her car home from an oil change in early January when she received a call from the dealer saying a technician left a tool in the engine bay. It seemed urgent because they were sending the tech to supposedly retrieve the tool from the customer’s home address that evening. Starks, who is biracial, was tipped off about the sticker by another employee at the dealership and figured out this was a ruse to get the sticker swapped out with a new one that did not have any racial slurs on it. The sticker in question (censored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) is pictured below.
Source: Makayla Starks
“Initially, I just sat in my car for about 20 minutes and cried,” Starks told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about discovering the racial slur in her car.
The day after the sticker debacle, Starks went back to the dealership and asked for paperwork for the service her car had received the day prior. She didn’t mention the sticker, but a manager put her on the phone with the company’s regional director, who “started apologizing profusely for the sticker.”
The dealer took down its Facebook page, posted a long apology on Instagram and TikTok, and announced that the employee responsible for the sticker had been fired.
View this post on Instagram
The Milwaukee GM dealer offered Starks credits for services across its dealer network, but she got a much better offer from a completely unrelated dealership in New York that heard about the story. “The team here got kind of fired up to add more support and add more voice to her voice and to her narrative and to push her message forward that this should’ve never happened,” Ramzey Rizk of Family Nissan in Inwood, New York told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. That’s where the idea came from to invite Starks to the dealer and gift her a Nissan Leaf. When the dealer found out Starks was an author, they set up a table for her to sign copies of her self-published book for the staff.
Starks is working with a civil rights attorney to try to obtain proof that the employees responsible for the sticker were disciplined or terminated. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that this incident is an example of why corporate DEI policies, including “trainings on racial discrimination and culturally diverse consumer relations,” are needed.
Comments
“Starks, who is biracial, was tipped off about the sticker by another employee at the dealership and figured out this was a ruse to get the sticker swapped out with a new one that did not have any racial slurs on it.”
That statement right there guarantees she and her friend at the dealership did this. 100%. Straight out of the Juicy Smollet playbook. And she got a free car out of it. RIDICULOUS.
This is why Carrothead is erasing DEI for ignorant racists like you!
Get real, Robert and get off your “Woke Horse”… you people just love to keep stirring the pot, don’t you??
Define Woke BadBob. Like, the real definition.
I’ll tell what WOKE means…….WOKE means a disregard for traditional American Judeo/Christian values, WOKE means not knowing or carrying if you’re a man or women. WOKE means embracing identity politics above character and ability. WOKE is without morals. WOKE is a sick wandering soul.
Everything a normal human being who was taught right from wrong…basic common sense! Everything “YOU” don’t stand for, is what WOKE is. It’s destroyed thos country and these people are mentally unstable and need to seek help
#bring back mental asylums
They don’t know the real definition of the word that’s why they sound so dumb when they use it in sentences.
Automotive News, the paper of record for the automotive industry, is not reporting that she was tipped off as to the content of the sticker, but had pick up a missing tool. She couldn’t find the “missing” tool. They then told her that they needed to replace the sticker. She then looked at it and found the slur. The facts suggest that this was not a set up.
It should read was told that they had to pick up a “missing tool.” If it was a “set up” why go through the entire ruse. She didn’t find it.
Why did the dealership actively try to hide it then Jim?
By your faulty logic, they must all in on this scam as well where another dealership stepped up and gave her a free car while all they did is give a bad apology on Instagram. Brilliant business decision.
There’s no better way to out the d-bags here than to publish a story about racism.
Would have liked to see another GM dealer step up and offer a car.
The Kunes organization should have done the free car and more. Particularly, the offering of proof of taking the situation seriously and showing the proof of action to Ms. Starks. Offering free service work is just completely ignorant and, as can be seen, completely self-serving.
OK, an employee did a nasty thing, BFD. Fire the employee. It’s not like I haven’t been called a racial slur before. And it’s not like you can listen to a rap song and not hear that adjective. There are more important things in the world and in the automotive world.
Just 3 weeks ago I was detained in the Newark airport for drug smuggling. I don’t do drugs, don’t drink, and I actually work for the government. After several hours of questioning and searching my bags, I was sent on my way on a red eye flight. Racism goes both ways, even for middle-aged WMFers.
As for DEI, it’s just a divider. I find it disgusting that this country’s government tries to divide people and give preference to one and condemn the other. As I told a friend at work, you are just as American as me.
What was the probable cause or reasonable suspicion to detain you for drug dealing? I will bet it was a dog that alerted police. Police are overwhelmed for work for them to arrest and take into custody an ordinary citizen at a crowded airport Where there is smoke, there is fire. Working for the government is irrelevant here. It’s not a get out of jail free pass.
And also, why do you feel a need to mention that you are WHITE? What does that suggest!
Yeah so Joe G is a government employee. He was probably clocked in “working from home” while at the airport getting searched. He’s been playing video games from home for 8 hours. Get rid of waste like this Elon and Trump!
No, if Joe G was a middle aged government employee, he would be retired by now and we would be paying for it. Middle aged folks in the private sector still work J.
No they don’t. From what my representatives are telling me and my fellow Americans these government employees are the problem. Doesn’t matter if he’s a older or younger..he and thousands of others have been the problem for years. Lazy, overpaid and not doing their work. Fire them!
Now, the rest of the story. A free car is not enough. Lucky her. I would have refunded the oil change money and given her another. The racist hustlers got to her and said this is worth millions to you and me.
Yes. That’s right. To quote Felon 47, there are some very fine people on both sides.
If you own a GM vehicle, please sell it, you don’t deserve one. You’re a Tool…
Like the Germans and Japanese are just perfect little angels, right. Will drive my Cadillac as long as it will run. Do not get in my way in with your Telsa.
It’s an abhorrent word, yet some members of the black community continue to use it in daily life and in rap music. It belongs no where. Sorry she had to see it on her vehicle.
Joe said it best……BFD!! Get over it. “Sat in her car and cried….for money…they can call us White folks any damn thing they want, nothing, NADA, zip, zero repercussions much less a new car! Affirmative action and DEI have blacks running all the crime ridden big blue cities and look where their at. Instead of being offended by every little slight try cleaning up your constituents.
And sueing for millions and a free car will make it all go away and change the world, huh? Anything to benefit monetarily in this ole world…
Your comment is cruel. Maybe that’s the point of it all. You didn’t want HER in the WHITE house. Let’s not forget who did lynchings, slavery, Jim Crow, January 6 and killed 6 police officers, burned down Black Wall Street in Oklahoma and other locations. Denied VA and home loan benefits to Blacks.
I know you feel persecuted. All a mediocre uneducated White Man has to do in America to get a job is to take a shower, shave, put on a nice shirt and fix his teeth and can become a manager at Arby’s earning 50k a year. Now if you are Black you would need a PhD to get that same job.
What you have just said is what is wrong with the country. Cry me a river, YOU have an excuse for anything and everything….poor, poor me!! Get over yourself, life is really hard. It’s those who are mentally strong who pull through and make something of themselves. No one ever helped me!!! I got my BA degree then 10 years later got double masters degrees.
If we want change. Look within your own culture and stop using the derogatory words within your cultures music and daily lives. I for one am sick of it. I am proud to me a WHITE male with multiple degrees. And won’t let any other culture hold me back…many others feel this way too. Now other cultures can do the same thing. They must accept change within their culture and at home first!!! Then start educating each other on what is broken within their cultures.
TNTSIERRA, wow, a double masters degree and you apply window tint on vehicles for a living. You must be one of those overqualified individuals.
Yup, my dad could have went down with his family but instead fled Detroit with nothing but my Mom as soon as they got out of high school. Definitely was the right choice.
Bob Hrebec,
Red States have higher crime rates than blue States, and have had for over 20 years look it up.
Only concentrated inside the BLUE cities located in those RED States. Stop lying and spinning, that fact has been proven and re-proven many times over and yet you continue to Parrot the lie about it. Now go back to biased, fact-omitting-censoring Google and “look up some more garbage”.
Billj598,
The information is from national crime statistics compiled by the FBI.
That is so much BS Ed it’s not funny! DEMOCRATS did the lynching and burning and Jim Crow! Know your history. SHE didn’t get in the WH because she’s an idiot. And for the last fifty years blacks have gotten to go to the front of the line, ahead of Asians and White’s. Plus Jan 6 was nothing like all the Ferguson and Minneapolis riots, looting, and burning…..guess who did all that? And a policeman is in prison for accidentally killing a black career criminal! So, maybe it takes a PhD for a black to manage an Arbys, they aren’t doing very well running blue cities.
She was called a name and got a free car? A name/word rappers use non-stop everyday? Call me ANYTHING you want and give me a free car. Please. This is ludicrous. Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. smh
This is another Bubba Wallace & Jessie Smollett stunt ….anyone who believes this is naive beyond comprehension.
So let me get this straight, The Grammy Awards will give black artists Grammy Awards for songs and movies using this word but it shows up on a sticker in a car and it results in a free vehicle?
DEI at its very best once again.
All while a white cop sits in jail because a black criminal died of a Fentanyl overdose. Seems fair.
I can’t believe how many racist replies I am seeing here. A remark like that on a customer’s oil sticker is no joke and is indefensible. Frankly GM should suspend the dealer’s franchise. Obviously it had control nor interest over employees behaviors.
The vast majority of users here are most likely white older conservative men. Expecting to find respectful and reasonable comments here is like finding a pot of gold.
So what are YOU ? You seem to revel in pigeon-holing and degrading other people based on their RACE, AGE and POLITICS, so why not tell us all about those qualities you select to define and criticize others as they apply to you ?
This is why MAGAs should never be allowed to have jobs that interface with customers at any level,
@ joe
And you are the reason they have weak beta males in the democratic party. Poor me, cry, cry, cry. Such hypocrites
TNTSIERRA, You do not sound like someone that has double masters degrees.
You sound like a whiny 44 year old from Iowa that installs window tint on vehicles for a living.
@Ivan
So I see you are scanning the forum and looking to call me out..well ok
First off, I am not a full time window tinter. I just help my best friend out when he is super swamped…so you lose there
Second, what I do full time in my life is non of your concern. You lose again.
Third, since you are a democrRat, and the way you post, you are a very sore loser who does a great job “complaining” and “whining” (Beta male) so it makes you look, sound, and act like a loser.
Fourth, the fact that you seem to think you know my age on a GM forum is kinda “creepy”, but yet again, your party is filled with creepy pedophiles, so I can see why….proceed.
You remind me of Danny Glover telling repeatedly Mark Wahlberg “you lose again” in the movie Shooter.
Oh boy, here we have the classic “hurt” DemocRAT yapping and blaming anyone and everyone who believes in Making America Great Again for some idiotic racist slur on an oil change sticker in Milwaukee. See, these Dems still haven’t learned anything and never will. They all belong to the same MAWA cult ( Making America Worse Again) by stealing tax dollars.
Racist. That’s what WOKE leftist race baiters say when they have no other reply. Get a life. Quit making excuses for poor performances. Get real. You can’t come into a job with dread locks and an attitude and expect to be taken seriously….. unless it’s a tattoo parlor or Popeyes Chicken. So either get with it or shut the f up. It ain’t about race, its about culture. We’re not Jamaica or East Africa, at least not yet.
Bob Hrebec,
What is the matter with Jamaica, or East Africa, or even South Africa, where Elon Musk was born and raised.
I know, Donald Trump calls any country where the majority of the people are black or brown skinned, sh-t whole countries.
As far as hairstyles I would much rather have a young man working for me with dreadlocks, versus a person with swastika tattoos.
Agree with this gentleman’s post!!!
Just from my experience, the back end of service departments are very much not politically correct. The people are rough and it’s dog eat dog. Racial slurs are thrown around as regularly as the jokes. Most people look at us like criminals and after being treated like that for so long you sort of just reciprocate. That’s why we have the front end, service writers have the tough job of separating the toxic customers from the toxic techs. Sometimes crap sneaks through, from either side.
John,
I have been in the garage of many GM service departments. I have never experienced the circus that you described.
If an employee can’t conduct themselves in a professional manner, then they are truly not a professional.
Kunes auto group are shysters.
They have settled lawsuits over shady dealings without admitting guilt.
They advertise that they are christians and donate a portion of their profits to charity.
Righteous they are not, if you deal with them you best have your radar up.
Budlar,
Thanks for the warning.
This place sounds like they deserve all of the bad publicity they get.
Starks said this is why DEI is important. It has nothing to do with DEI. The person that did this is stupid and probably grew up getting away with doing stupid things. Racism exist in other countries. There are black racists, asian racists. If you travel the world you will see racist people from other coutries.
Fidel Ramos,
Just because racism exists, doesn’t mean it should be accepted, or tolerated, in any society.
Supremacists and racists are the dregs of society.
gracias a mamá por cocinar y a negro lady por los gritos!