Starbucks announced Tuesday it will be closing 8,000 of its stores nationwide to send its 175,000 employees to “racial bias training” boot camp following an incident last week in which two black men were arrested in one of its stores for loitering.In a statement from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, the company announced the closure would happen on May 29. Johnson prostrated himself and his company further for the mishandling of the situation:“I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it,” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement.“While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution,” he said. “Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities.”Surely, the thousands upon thousands of dollars the coffeeshops will lose in this exercise in gratuitous self-flagellation will be enough to settle the mobs, right? Right?!
Not likely. As we know, even if you are a full-fledged white-guilt adherent, you can never be sorry or abnegate enough to make up for things you probably didn’t do as a white person. And as former Attorney General Eric Holder will be one of the people guiding the instruction, you can bet this will be made clear in one way or another.
This is clear from the fact that a company that has had a left-wing, progressive culture since its beginnings in Seattle, and held it firmly, is putting its employees through further training on how to treat customers of color.
The gentlemen who were arrested deserved to have what happened to them addressed and the apology they received from Starbucks was warranted, but honestly, as one person on Twitter astutely pointed out:
“A few years ago Starbucks employees were told to randomly talk about race with customers. Now they have to sit through a day long “how to not be racist” seminar.”
No one can be pure enough to satisfy the jackboots.
"...for things you probably didn’t do as a white person."
ReplyDeleteWhen you and I were selling OEM software packages outside the stipulations the publishers made with the vendors who, in turn, sold them to us without regard for those conditions, the publishers turned to us for restitution on the grounds that we were "third-party beneficiaries" of unlawful (but not criminal, I hasten to add) sales. We didn't commit the original sin, yet we benefitted nonetheless.
I submit the concept for your consideration and thoughtful reflection. Cheers. :o)
It's all high level damage control. And high level overreach. Great for the corporate entities who will get paid to put this all on. Their coffee is too expensive anyway. But great concept and execution of a marketing and retail sales model you should applaud them for. Otherwise, where do you want all the cool people to meet--the public library or the Y?
DeleteI don't get your question. I'm just pointing out the silliness and, as you say, overreach, of this move. I didn't say cool people to meet elsewhere.
DeleteRick, The analogy falls down on this: The sale without regard for publisher stipulations was happening in real time. In the case of institutionalized bigotry, that all happened many generations ago. No one is "benefitting" from anything. What we have today is just a nation of people, of various races and blends thereof.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is your counterargument that depends on demonstrably faulty assumptions. The evidence that racial discrimination in a variety of arenas does indeed exist - "in real time", no less - is pretty compelling. Unless, of course, your belief that the economic lag behind their caucasian counterparts, for example, is because of some actual deficiency in races of color, which would only be further proof of the point. Cheers.
DeleteIt was just a silly hypothetical question. There are PR firms that specialize inn reputation damage control and I'd guess this is a dollars and cents decision. There's big money in them $2.64 Ventes.
ReplyDelete