Posted on 03/19/2015 10:53:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
"It's also interesting because I'm actually black, but you assumed otherwise," Jay Smooth told Nancy Giles.
Starbucks' campaign to get people talking about race has already birthed a very public, very cringeworthy conversation about race. Jay Smooth, a radio DJ and video blogger, was on MSNBC's All In With Chris Hayes Tuesday night, discussing the coffee company's "Race Together" campaign with fellow guest Nancy Giles, a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning.
As they discussed the efficacy of a campaign like Race Together with Giles defending it and Smooth pushing back Hayes played one of Smooth's most popular videos, "How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist."
"It's another interesting, funny thing about race," Giles said, after the clip ran. "There would be some people that feel that you co-opted something like that, and other people might feel like that's his background and that's really cool, too."
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Giles playfully needled Smooth for being a white guy imitating a black guy.
Except.
"It's also interesting because I'm actually black, but you assumed otherwise. And this is the sort of awkwardness that we can look forward to at Starbucks across America," Smooth said, dropping the mic. (Metaphorically, of course, since they were all wearing lavaliers.)
All right, folks. We've asked you in the past about your Starbucks names. But what was the most memorable experience you've had where someone has mistaken you for a different race or ethnicity, or you've mistaken someone for being something he is not? Holler at us in the comments.
Great story.
I had just the opposite experience.
Despite being an Irish Catholic, with a good summer tan I can pass for a middle easterner easily, especially with a full black beard.
I used to go to a junkyard run by three Jewish brothers. They somehow assumed I was a kosher buddy, always treated me like a long lost relative. I always paid cash so they never saw my name.
Let's narrow the conversation to his tribe.
I hate NPR. I won’t listen to them. They should not be allowed to take taxpayer money to push that boring liberal crap day after day.
A Putz. Yeah, exactly.
FReepers have reported being corrected by baristas for ordering black coffee. “Say `plain’ or `uncreamed’ next time!” they are warned.
Is that demand made before or after one has paid?
“How about a nice cup of shut the f*** up?” I would reply.
Imagine you are in a long line at Starbucks just waiting for your coffee while someone at the head of the line is having an existential discussion on race with the barista. My reaction would be to walk out the door and get my coffee elsewhere. Perhaps other coffee places should advertise that there will be no racial discussions and employees just serve your coffee.
A friend of ours immigrated from South Africa here as a teen. He signed up for an African-American contest of some sort in high school and competed, arguing that having been born on the African continent, he was more African than many kids there.
I invite all the Leftist Lurkers and Trolls here to read this:
What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts
At delis in NYC, “regular” means sugar and cream. At least it used to. I ought to try that next visit.
“You can’t ask for coffee “black “. It’s “Uncreamed”” — Dennis Miller
So am I. Ancestors came here before 1700 and I was born here. Of course it makes the Mrs a tad annoyed since she is part Apache.
Well, brother, don’t ever get her mad at you.
Yeah, I’ll have a “discussion”, but I won’t sit for a “scolding”. Take it elsewhere.
Yea I used to live up there “Coffee regular”, or “Cafe reguLAR” meant cream and sugar. I don’t know if current usage is the same.
One of the bloodiest episodes took place in New Orleans in 1891. When the chief of police was found shot to death on the street one night, the mayor blamed Sicilian gangsters and rounded up more than 100 Sicilian Americans.
Eventually, 19 were put on trial and, as the nations Italian Americans watched nervously, were found not guilty for lack of evidence.
Before they could be freed, however, a mob of 10,000 people, including many of New Orleans most prominent citizens, broke into the jail. They dragged 11 Sicilians from their cells and lynched them, including two men jailed on other offenses.
Italians worldwide were outraged, but the U.S. press generally approved of the action. It was the largest single mass lynching in U.S. history.
I demand affirmative action set-asides based on my identifying as black. Yo.
Following this on Twitter, that’s about all I see: scolding. By the thousands.
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