Fortune reports on what might just be the worst entry in the long history of bad corporate ideas, as the Starbucks coffee chain announces a “race relations initiative” that will include baristas hassling customers about racism:
Starbucks published a full page ad in the New York Times on Sunday — a stark, black, page with a tiny caption “Shall We Overcome?” in the middle, and the words “RaceTogether” with the company logo, on the bottom right. The ad, along with a similar one on Monday in USA Today, is part of an initiative launched this week by the coffee store chain to stimulate conversation and debate about the race in America by getting employees to engage with customers about the perennially hot button subject.
Beginning on Monday, Starbucks baristas will have the option as they serve customers to hand cups on which they’ve handwritten the words “Race Together” and start a discussion about race. This Friday, each copy of USA Today— which has a daily print circulation of almost 2 million and is a partner of Starbucks in this initiative — will have the first of a series of insert with information about race relations, including a variety of perspectives on race. Starbucks coffee shops will also stock the insert.
In a video addressing Starbucks’ nearly 200,000 workers, 40% of whom are members of a racial minority, [Starbucks CEO Howard] Schultz dismissed the notion that race was too hot a topic business-wise for Starbucks to tackle.
“I reject that. I reject that completely,” he said in the video address. “It’s an emotional issue. But it is so vitally important to the country,” he continued, pointing to that the United States is “so much better” than what the current state of race relations portray it to be.
There will be no escape from politics in America, good citizens. Your consciousness will be raised every time you walk into a room, unwrap a package, engage any form of communications device, or even accept a cup of coffee. Enjoy your evening’s rest while you can, until left-wingers figure out a way to beam political messages into your dreams......
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The Fortune article goes on to say that Starbucks hatched this idea following “several months of consultations with employees that started in December, in part as a result of protests that roiled several U.S. cities after grand juries declined to indict white police officers in the killings of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., near St. Louis, and 43-year-old Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.”.....
......Race relations, on the other hand, is an inherently aggressive topic. It’s rarely fodder for brief, upbeat discussions. One of the important lessons to learn from the Ferguson mess is that race relations have been politicized in the worst possible way – animosities are deliberately stoked by dishonest operators who profit financially and politically from unrest.
Good people of every ethnic background who aren’t racist in the slightest nevertheless feel nervous and defensive about the issue.
Even if the barista and a particular customer see eye-to-eye on the issue, there’s a good chance other customers within earshot will not. Organized pressure groups will realize hanging around at Starbucks is a great way to cause a camera-ready scene… and if management finds their behavior objectionable, they’ll be able to say, with considerable justification, that they just came to participate in the big racial discussion the corporation claims it’s eager to host..... read more at link
