It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time

#Race Together

 

Coffee with a side of political activism and a social media response of little more than contempt, and that's putting it nicely.  The first thing pointed out on social media was that the Starbucks ad campaign for "Race Together" is as lily white as it gets.  The second thing pointed out is that the Starbucks corporate leadership team is almost entirely as lily white as there ads.

Entrepreneur made the astute observation that this is in a society where people sue or attack baristas over a mixed up order. Kareem Abdul Jabbar noted in Time magazine that:

Most of the customers at Starbucks probably don’t want to have their political awareness challenged by the person foaming their coffee. Minds are more likely to be changed by someone with some form of expertise in the subject, which baristas generally don’t have.

Joe Berkowitz went to four Starbucks to talk about race with the baristas... it didn't work.  Danielle Henderson thought that:

It’s the height of liberal American idealism and a staggering act of hubris to think we can solve our systemic addiction to racism over a Frappucino.

It may be beneficial to have an open discussion of race and racism in America, but is having it with a Starbuck's barista pressured to exceed forty transactions per half hour?

What do you think?