Espresso makes you hyper. When youre hyper you sometimes make rash decisions. When you make rash decisions you usually regret it. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz evidently chugged a Venti-five-shot-double-pump-skinny-vanilla-latte on Monday before announcing Starbucks new RaceTogether" public relations stunt. As he describes it the ber-"progressive" head of the multi-billion dollar corporate mega-giant that brews mediocre coffee by the silo full and whose leadership is almost exclusively white hopes to start a discussion" about American race relations. (Im pretty sure that discussion has been ongoing for a couple centuries but hey I was wrong that one time about that other thing.)
The way I understand it is that when you unsuspectingly wander into any of your 12 local Starbucks your official Starbucks barista will write RaceTogether" with his official Starbucks Sharpie on the side of your official Starbucks cup and then as you try to avoid eye contact and grab your Splenda and 2 on the way out the door while formulating an excuse for why youre already late to work hell ask you if youd like to have a discussion about race.
Bad idea? The cost of white privilege? I dont know. Maybe its just how Im wired but I kind of relish the opportunity to explain to a bearded ghost white heavily pierced and tatted 29-year-old aspiring LGBTOMGWTFBBQ Gender Studies professional that the whole Hands up Dont Shoot™" meme was a cultural Marxist hoax rooted in as are all things progressive" a bunch of pretend stuff.
Anyway the stunt has backfired magnificently. Its had the exceptionally rare outcome of bringing together conservatives progressives" and people of every race color and creed to universally mock Schultz and Starbucks corporate and resolve perhaps for the first time to use the drive-thru.
Maybe that was the plan all along.
This of course is just more empty liberal feel-good hashtag activism designed to endear a detached corporate giant to todays easily-led-astray millennial (and younger) generation and to make people who otherwise dont do squat feel like theyre doing something meaningful. Conforming to non-conformity" feels good. Its all the rage. Starbucks is playing it up. Its a commercial PR ploy a business calculation that missed the mark by a Mississippi mile. Honestly I actually feel bad for the young people who work there. Its got to be embarrassing. In my experience and all joking aside most Starbucks employees are very nice and hardworking folks.
Even still since Starbucks has already taken the plunge lets go with it. While the idea of a national discussion on race relations" is worn if were going to be forced into it while trying to wash down our rubbery microwaved-to-900 °F sausage-egg sandwich then the whole #RaceTogether refrain is overly broad and lacking in substance. Lets drill down some. Here are three alternatives Id like to see scribbled on my cup:
#FactsMatter
Veteran journalist and professional blogger Robert Stacy McCain suggested this one. There is a world of difference between (a) calling attention to legitimate grievances and (b) dishonestly exploiting those grievances."
You listening Starbucks?
Speaking of dishonest exploitation and as reluctantly admitted to by the Washington Posts very liberal Jonathan Capehart two must-read investigations" released by the Justice Department on the officer shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri forced" him to deal with two uncomfortable truths: Brown never surrendered with his hands up and Wilson was justified in shooting Brown." Moreover said Capehart Brown fought with the officer and tried to take his gun. And the popular hands-up storyline which isnt corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements" was a total fraud perpetrated by race-baiting hucksters like Al Sharpton Barack Obama Eric Holder Capeharts fellow liberal media agitators and everyone else who stands to gain by fanning the flames of racial division.
Heres another fact that matters. Lets #RaceTogether and grieve the tragic reality that 93 percent of blacks murdered in America are murdered by other blacks. I for one believe that #AllLivesMatter whether theyre tragically taken in self-defense by a white cop or brutally taken over disputed drug territory by a black gangbanger.
#BlackBabiesMatter
Hi Barista Bob. Why yes I would love to discuss race. Did you know that the most dangerous place on earth for an African-American is in her mothers womb? The No. 1 killer of blacks in the U.S. is abortion homicide. There isnt a close second. This is by design. Like Adolf Hitler Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood was a devote eugenicist who once said We dont want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population." To this day Planned Parenthood continues Sangers legacy of ethnic cleansing. Seventy-eight percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12 percent of the population but 35 percent of the abortions in America." Planned Parenthoods founder claimed Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated."
Barista Bob can we #RaceTogether on the idea that African-Americans arent human weeds and shouldnt be exterminated that is dismembered alive at the rate of thousands per day?
#Colorblind
The only people who still view the world in terms of skin color are typically Democrats progressives" (read: cultural Marxists) and those racial minorities who allow themselves to be politically exploited by these primarily white liberals and who allow themselves to become dependent on government assistance. Sure there are still racists out there (your KKK and neo-Nazi-types) but theyve been largely marginalized in our culture. And well they should. Whats troubling is that today many of the most powerful people in America remain self-servingly so obsessed with skin color.
So thank you no Starbucks. Id rather not discuss race. Im not seeing it. And Im teaching my kids to be colorblind as well. White privilege?" Hardly. My mom grew up in the sticks of Oklahoma in little more than a shack. At times she didnt even have a pair of shoes to wear. She worked her butt off to escape those circumstances. Thats how I was raised. Thats how Im raising my children.
A pretty smart fellow once said that he hoped to one day live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Many of us are living there now.
The rest of you can join us any time.
Espresso makes you hyper. When youre hyper you sometimes make rash decisions. When you make rash decisions you usually regret it. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz evidently chugged a Venti-five-shot-double-pump-skinny-vanilla-latte on Monday before announcing Starbucks new RaceTogether" public relations stunt. As he describes it the ber-"progressive" head of the multi-billion dollar corporate mega-giant that brews mediocre coffee by the silo full and whose leadership is almost exclusively white hopes to start a discussion" about American race relations. (Im pretty sure that discussion has been ongoing for a couple centuries but hey I was wrong that one time about that other thing.)
The way I understand it is that when you unsuspectingly wander into any of your 12 local Starbucks your official Starbucks barista will write RaceTogether" with his official Starbucks Sharpie on the side of your official Starbucks cup and then as you try to avoid eye contact and grab your Splenda and 2 on the way out the door while formulating an excuse for why youre already late to work hell ask you if youd like to have a discussion about race.
Bad idea? The cost of white privilege? I dont know. Maybe its just how Im wired but I kind of relish the opportunity to explain to a bearded ghost white heavily pierced and tatted 29-year-old aspiring LGBTOMGWTFBBQ Gender Studies professional that the whole Hands up Dont Shoot™" meme was a cultural Marxist hoax rooted in as are all things progressive" a bunch of pretend stuff.
Anyway the stunt has backfired magnificently. Its had the exceptionally rare outcome of bringing together conservatives progressives" and people of every race color and creed to universally mock Schultz and Starbucks corporate and resolve perhaps for the first time to use the drive-thru.
Maybe that was the plan all along.
This of course is just more empty liberal feel-good hashtag activism designed to endear a detached corporate giant to todays easily-led-astray millennial (and younger) generation and to make people who otherwise dont do squat feel like theyre doing something meaningful. Conforming to non-conformity" feels good. Its all the rage. Starbucks is playing it up. Its a commercial PR ploy a business calculation that missed the mark by a Mississippi mile. Honestly I actually feel bad for the young people who work there. Its got to be embarrassing. In my experience and all joking aside most Starbucks employees are very nice and hardworking folks.
Even still since Starbucks has already taken the plunge lets go with it. While the idea of a national discussion on race relations" is worn if were going to be forced into it while trying to wash down our rubbery microwaved-to-900 °F sausage-egg sandwich then the whole #RaceTogether refrain is overly broad and lacking in substance. Lets drill down some. Here are three alternatives Id like to see scribbled on my cup:
#FactsMatter
Veteran journalist and professional blogger Robert Stacy McCain suggested this one. There is a world of difference between (a) calling attention to legitimate grievances and (b) dishonestly exploiting those grievances."
You listening Starbucks?
Speaking of dishonest exploitation and as reluctantly admitted to by the Washington Posts very liberal Jonathan Capehart two must-read investigations" released by the Justice Department on the officer shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri forced" him to deal with two uncomfortable truths: Brown never surrendered with his hands up and Wilson was justified in shooting Brown." Moreover said Capehart Brown fought with the officer and tried to take his gun. And the popular hands-up storyline which isnt corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements" was a total fraud perpetrated by race-baiting hucksters like Al Sharpton Barack Obama Eric Holder Capeharts fellow liberal media agitators and everyone else who stands to gain by fanning the flames of racial division.
Heres another fact that matters. Lets #RaceTogether and grieve the tragic reality that 93 percent of blacks murdered in America are murdered by other blacks. I for one believe that #AllLivesMatter whether theyre tragically taken in self-defense by a white cop or brutally taken over disputed drug territory by a black gangbanger.
#BlackBabiesMatter
Hi Barista Bob. Why yes I would love to discuss race. Did you know that the most dangerous place on earth for an African-American is in her mothers womb? The No. 1 killer of blacks in the U.S. is abortion homicide. There isnt a close second. This is by design. Like Adolf Hitler Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood was a devote eugenicist who once said We dont want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population." To this day Planned Parenthood continues Sangers legacy of ethnic cleansing. Seventy-eight percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12 percent of the population but 35 percent of the abortions in America." Planned Parenthoods founder claimed Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated."
Barista Bob can we #RaceTogether on the idea that African-Americans arent human weeds and shouldnt be exterminated that is dismembered alive at the rate of thousands per day?
#Colorblind
The only people who still view the world in terms of skin color are typically Democrats progressives" (read: cultural Marxists) and those racial minorities who allow themselves to be politically exploited by these primarily white liberals and who allow themselves to become dependent on government assistance. Sure there are still racists out there (your KKK and neo-Nazi-types) but theyve been largely marginalized in our culture. And well they should. Whats troubling is that today many of the most powerful people in America remain self-servingly so obsessed with skin color.
So thank you no Starbucks. Id rather not discuss race. Im not seeing it. And Im teaching my kids to be colorblind as well. White privilege?" Hardly. My mom grew up in the sticks of Oklahoma in little more than a shack. At times she didnt even have a pair of shoes to wear. She worked her butt off to escape those circumstances. Thats how I was raised. Thats how Im raising my children.
A pretty smart fellow once said that he hoped to one day live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Many of us are living there now.
The rest of you can join us any time.