I’ll write it again and again, the single most admirable quality that I have ever observed in a human being is courage. Some say that honesty is what they appreciate most, but I say that honesty and all other admirable qualities come from courage.

It takes courage to cross the racial divide in America. That courage seems to be in short supply these days, but it is not extinct by any means. At least not when it comes to solving a problem of racial insensitivity in St. Louis. This is a story of crossing the divide with courage and finding that we are all basically of the same mind.

Activist Anthony Shahid recently dined at Kobe Steak House in Westport Plaza. Kobe’s provides a unique Japanese dining experience in which Teppanyaki chefs artfully prepare your complete meal to your specifications at your Hibachi table as they entertain you with their knife skills and humor. On this particular evening the humor became a point of contingency.

The chef made a joke about monkeys towards a black female patron dining at Mr. Shahid’s table (in 2009 no less). We’ve all seen the ‘fire breathing’ caricature of Brother Shahid on the front page of the River Front Times, so you can well imagine that whatever the temperature of the Hibachi table, it was likely 1,000 degrees below Anthony’s at this time. When there was no apology rendered Mr. Shahid took the matter to the manager. When the manager failed to redress the insensitivity, Anthony left the restaurant.

Mr. Shahid contacted the owner of Kobe Steak House, James E. Hamlin, President, Kobe Management, Inc., in Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Hamlin and his partner, Jim West, took Mr. Shahids concerns very seriously, so much so that they drove to St. Louis within hours of the contact to meet with Anthony Shahid. In a phone conversation, Mr. Hamlin told me, “I did some research on Anthony and for all that we knew, we were coming to meet the ‘second coming of hell.’  But, upon meeting with him, he was reasonable, we listened to him, he listened to us and I realized that Anthony is a man who is genuinely concerned with the plight of his people. He is now a friend.” I told Mr. Hamlin that I too had a run-in with Mr. Shahid over an article in my publication, the Limelight. Anthony was on the verge of ‘bringing out the coffins’ when I contacted him and asked him to meet with me man to man. I found, like Mr. Hamlin, that Anthony is a man who is genuinely concerned with the plight of his people. Anthony found out the same about me and we too are great friends.

The courage that it took Mr. Hamlin and Mr. West to drive here and face ‘the second coming of hell’ and to address his concerns in a way that would bring about a positive resolution to all involved is very respectable. The staff of Kobe will be undergoing some sensitivity training and Kobe will be providing a complimentary private fine dining experience to the young lady, towards whom the insensitive comments were made, as well as 7 of her chosen guests. Mr. Hamlin wants her to realize what a “wonderful experience Kobe really provides its patrons.”

United States Attorney General Eric Holder was scrutinized by the press for stating in a Black History celebration at the Justice Department, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” Regardless of the critics, Mr. Holder is exactly right. It takes courage for Anthony Shahid to stand up for what he believes is truly right. It takes courage to meet with Mr. Shahid face to face and seek to understand him and be understood by him. Maybe the next time that Mr. Shahid calls a business, corporation or other organization with a concern, they could take a lesson from James Hamlin, Jim West, Anthony and myself as well, any differences can be resolved within hours as opposed to never as it seems to be the way of St. Louis.