Is It Racist? Starbucks Gives Up Trying To Solve America's 'Other' Great Divide

Just as The Fed folded this week on ending the nation's booming income inequality problem (by reinforcing the Yellen put for longer), so Starbucks has folded in its effort to fix the other growing divide in America - racism. Careful not to admit that it was due to pressure from the avalanche of less-than-positive social media reactions, AP reports Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups. "Nothing is changing," Starbucks claims it was all part "of the cadence" of the plan - hhmm. "Most people come to Starbucks for coffee," concludes one young African-American, adding "race is an uncomfortable thing to bring up, especially in a Starbucks."

As AP reports,

Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday, ending as planned a visible component of the company's diversity and racial inequality campaign that had sparked widespread criticism in the week since it took effect.

The coffee chain's initiative will continue more broadly without the handwritten messages, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said.

The cups were always "just the catalyst" for a larger conversation, and Starbucks will still hold forum discussions, co-produce special sections in USA TODAY and put more stores in minority communities as part of the Race Together initiative, according to a company memo from CEO Howard Schultz said.

The campaign has been criticized as opportunistic and inappropriate, coming in the wake of racially charged events such as national protests over police killings of black males. Others questioned whether Starbucks workers could spark productive conversations about race while serving drinks.

The phase-out is not a reaction to that pushback, Olson said. "Nothing is changing. It's all part of the cadence of the timeline we originally planned."

He echoed the company memo, saying of the Race Together initiative, "We're leaning into it hard."

As one commentator noted, "I've not read a single positive Tweet or commentary on the @Starbucks #RaceTogether effort."

At a Starbucks in Pittsfield Township, Michigan, near Ann Arbor, two customers said on Sunday they didn't think a coffee shop was the right place for race relations dialogue.

Ninette Musili, a junior biomolecular science major at the University of Michigan, said the campaign seemed to her like an insincere publicity stunt that wasn't executed properly.

Like many who criticized Starbucks, she goes to the shops either before class or later in the day to study. At neither time does she want to discuss race relations.

"Most people come to Starbucks for coffee," said Musili, who is 19 and African-American. "Race is an uncomfortable thing to bring up, especially in a Starbucks."

She said such discussions are important, and that Starbucks should have set aside time during the evenings for race discussions and invited people to attend.

Another customer, Shane Mulholland, 46, of Ann Arbor, also said Starbucks isn't the venue to talk about race.

"They're here for coffee. They're not here to push their political agenda," he said. "I even contemplated not coming here because of it."

He said Starbucks should remain neutral on such topics because it's an established brand, rather than risk alienating customers. "There are other ways you can go about doing things to stimulate interest in what you're doing," said Mulholland, who is white and runs an edible mushroom-growing business. "They must be doing so well they don't have to worry about losing customers over that," he said.

*  *  *

As Bloomberg concludes, suffice it to say that Starbucks' Race Together initiative has not yet solved the vexing problem of racism in America.

Comments

[Bumbu Sauce]

Go to a thrift store and buy an air popcorn popper.  Buy green beans and roast them yourself.  Takes little time, and the coffee quality, once you get the hang of roasting, is indisputably better than what you can exchange money for at a coffee shop.

Find a coffee origin that you like, and then buy it in 20lb or greater lots.  The $/lb approaches $4 the larger the lot size you purchase.

[Fukushima Fricassee]

The US government forced me to ride a bus 2 hours back and forth to school to "integrate" from the 4th grade until I bought a car at 16 and could drive the distance. Screw the white .001% borad members at starbucks and fuck Al Sharpton and Obama. It's the human race and there is nothing to discuss,  you ignorant race baiting shits.

[OldPhart]

My four hour bus ride, from 1971-1977, (after feeding the horses, cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, rabbits) involved the 'short bus' picking us us at 5 am, to meet the transfer bus at the local elementary school at 6:30, where we waited for the other 'short bus' to offload and load onto ours, then we drove twenty five miles across the desert to the junior high school at 7:30 (after multiple stops to pick up kids), and offload half the bus, then wait until the entire line of buses was emptied to arrive at the High School at 7:50 am or later.  My sisters endured elementary school at 7 AM, my junioir and high school years were eleven hour days, not including going to the college and walking/hitch-hiking home (which made it thirteen to twenty hours [not counting feeding horses, cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, rabbits], depending on the walk.)

In the entire area I think there were maybe 50 black people, and of those, about three black students.  That said, back then there was a no nonsense viewpoint on education.  There were exactly two high schools within five hundred square miles, and three junior high schools...we put up with a lot of bus riding and could give a shit what color you were...you were in the same sorry shape that we were.  My memories of high school (1973 - 1977) can only dredge up calling people faggots, I can't remember an instance where skin color mattered. 

Not, fucking, one.  Fuck, we were so happy to see someone it didn't matter who they were.

We did have faggots, though, and I regret name calling.  People shouldn't have to put up with that.  Faggots embrace faggotry, I could give a shit, you do your thing, it means nothing to me other than I mentally use derogatory terms for you.  That will die out with me.

I moved a lot as a military brat.  Integration, for me, happened in the fifth grade.  I had no idea anything had happened other than a bunch of black kids suddenly appeared at Del Rosa (San Bernardino, Calif) Elementary School, and I had black girls doing some weird assed head shake at me when I asked them to play (I call it the 'Egyptian' I find that head shake the most fascinating thing about black women, how do they do that?).  In sixth grade I had a black teacher, to me it was nothing.  I'd had Miss Brinkerhoff in second grade, and that nazi would pick me off my desk by my hair, and I had a perpetual crew cut.)  The black guy was nice, kind and an actual teacher in comparison.  Seems like his name was something innocuous, like Smith or something similar.

After all of this, integration, for me, was an absolute non-event.  Suddenly there were black kids with weird habits, other that that, there were a shitload of new kids to play with.  I didn't then, care what color they were, nor do I now.  I want to play with anyone else that wants to play.  Fuck this artificial shit.

I don't care if you're black, red, yellow or green, or a fuckin' faggot...do you want to play with me?

[HughBriss]

+100

:)

[Atomizer]

I would like the reggin blend espresso topped with bareque whipped cream. 

[kchrisc]

Power resorting to race baiting again doesn't surprise me, as it is always about money, power, and division.
If they can keep us divided, they can keep dividing us from our Liberty, Property, and Lives.

I wonder if Amongst Schultz is so inclined to institute a week of discussion on fraudulent-reserve banking and the FedRes?

The banksters need to repay us.

I'm equal opportunity. I will eliminate any and all aggressors against me and mine with equal vigor. Well, accuracy might be enhanced on some.

[Shitgum Suicide]

You really want talk about race at Starbucks? The next time they ask if you want cream tell them you want your coffe NEGRO!

[pupdog1]

Or African-Americano.

[zebrasquid]

Selling $4 coffees in the ghetto....do you all take EBT cards, Howard?
Let's talk about how that is helpful to the Michael Browns out there?
How's that make poor folk feel, not being able to be part of the upscale class? Maybe you need to talk with your customers about entitling them to some free Frappaccinos??

Face it, Howard...you're part of the problem not the solution..
and, Hey, Howard, before you get mad...YOU brought it up!

[pupdog1]

Michael Brown would start shoving the tiny barristas around.

[zebrasquid]

That is no longer a problem..

[Caleb Abell]

Or if you want some cream in the coffee, ask for a Mulatto.

[silverer]

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.  (from WIKI)

Here it is, published in 1958:

List of Communist goals

The following is the list of Communist goals contained in The Naked Communist:

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums.
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity, masturbation and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use "united force" to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

[Anusocracy]

Maybe you could gin up a comparable list of US goals to be forced on the rest of the world.

[TalkToLind]

I don't always drink coffee, but when I do I brew the shit myself.  Stay frugal my friends.

[proLiberty]

Let's have a conversation about telling the truth and being truthful.   So, how about Truthful Together?  

Let us be truthful about the harm to the economy of a government having money that is not honest, or a budget that is not honest.  Or not being honest about the socialst agenda?   Or that socialism is really the beleif that we all will be better off and society will be more "fair" when we all live at the expense of everyone else.

The fish rots from the head down, and the head of this fish is a liar.   He has populated his officials with liars.  His policies are lies and those who report the news are corrupt liars.  The Courts, from the Chief Justice on down are liars.  

As to where race and truth come together, what are Starbucks baristas supposed to say about "hands up, don't shoot"?  Yet more lies?

[orangegeek]

stopped going to starbucks ions ago.

#stuntfail

[northern vigor]

I used to take the kids to Boston Pizza, then one day they charged me four bucks for a freaking coffee...then tips and tax, it's like five dollars.

I looked at the menu.."We are now proudly serving Starbucks Coffee"

I never went back. It wasn't even good coffee.

[pupdog1]

Note to Howard Horsecock:

There are many storefronts available in Ferguson.

Put up or STFU.

[JoJoJo]

There are so many black politicians comedians, academics preachers, actors and media types who spend their every hour obsessed with RACE that they can hardly think or utter a subject other than RACE. Every black comedian starts with "Let me tell you how I was treated in the white neighborhood. . ." What a waste of potential talent when African Americans ALL seek a career in some tangent of Black Studies fighting to advance Black Power. These have proven to be very lucrative if not redundant careers especially promoted by Dems.

[Pava]

...what is wrong with being a racist?!

[Refuse-Resist]

Being able to discern the difference between a lion and a zebra is very important if you don't want to get eaten.

[Monty Burns]

I simply realize that - on average - races display different characteristics. So for example blacks are on average less intelligent, more violent and more impulsive than most other races. I also know that there's a 'war' on Whites, especially White males.  My actions are guided by this knowledge and if that makes me a racist then so be it.

[SweetDoug]

'

'

'

The problem with this is, if anyone thinks that this nanny-statist, sneering-down-at-you, sanctimonious crap is going to stop, from the liberal progressive media or the in-the-bag corporations, you're dead wrong.

Things that don't stop, keep on.

And nobody that wants this crap stopped, knows how to stop it.

It's just got to burn itself out.

Somehow.

•J•
V-V

[anachronism]

I wish that we could get away from all this race and gender crap.

The problems that threaten Americans the most have to do about economic ans social status.

There are more "poor" white Americans living in the country than there of any class of minorities: more than Blacks, and more than Latinos combined. All these "affirmative action programs" that set aside opportunities for advancement of social and economic status for just about everyone except a white male disgust me.

There is another commentary posted in Zerohedge this weekend which recognizes that our problems revolve around class not race or gender. But the writer focused on out-of-wedlock births and college degrees.

If the government and large non-profit organizations want to hand out jobs and grants to the deprived among us, they should do it primarily for the poor among us.

[Last of the Mid...]

How completely disconnected and arrogant can a CEO be. First of all this is none of his fucking busisness, which is to make a profit for shareholders. Absolute proof these guys want to control the world rather than just be profitable. I can't believe more people aren't absolutely outraged at this attempt to mold the minds of americans to the liberal cause. Any chance any of those cups would have race baiter written on them?  Hell to the no. What a crock of shiiittttt.

[Chuck Knoblauch]

Every corporation has their own dictionary.

A reality set apart.

[messystateofaffairs]

Starbuck coffee is bitter, overpriced, and undrinkable.

[madcows]

As a cracker, I'm sick of being called a racist, simply b/c of my complexion.  Fuck the MSM and the president, and his cronies for fueling the worst race relations this country has seen in 50 years.

[bigfire]

They can start by writing my name correctly.  It's not a trick name, and 40% of the time, they got it wrong.

[large_wooden_badger]

I can be conspicuously white and order all the black coffee I want at Dunkin'!!! I don't have to talk to anyone or even leave a tip!

FO'MURICA!

[Shitgum Suicide]

I'm not racist. I like all white people.

[Caleb Abell]

I meet people of all races and creeds every year.  And every year, my fondness for snakes grows stronger.  I also noticed that dogs have a more highly evolved sense of honor than humans.

[Gavrikon]

I get so sick of all the anti-Semitic comments on this site.  Next thing you know, some racist is going to accuse Howard Schultz of being a Jew.

[RagnarRedux]

A Conversation About Race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNRVL8tibOo

Why Do Blacks Attack Elderly White People?

http://dailykenn.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-blacks-attack-old-white-people...

Nonwhite Crime Apocalypse Envelops New York City

http://newobserveronline.com/nonwhite-crime-apocalypse-envelops-new-york...

The Color Of Crime

http://www.colorofcrime.com/2005/10/the-color-of-crime-2005/

[Gavrikon]

Indeed.  Let's have a conversation about race.