Starbucks Campaign Already Inspiring Awkward Conversations About Race

National Public Radio ^ | March 18, 2015 | Kat Chow

[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.

[Billthedrill]

“I like my coffee like I like my women - hot and straight.” Now doesn’t that sound just sil...wait a minute...

[elcid1970]

But the baristas add & blend all the multiple extra ingredients for lattes, don’t they?

[Liberty Valance]

[uncitizen]

Can we ask if it’s true that once you go black, you never go back?....hey I’m talking about the coffee!

[GOPJ]

Is Starbucks racist?

“....there are no Starbucks Coffee Houses...{in}

Places like Highland Park, Michigan, which is at the center of Detroit, is inhabited by a population that is 94 percent African-American. Or in Benton Harbor, Michigan, which is almost 90 percent African-American. There is not a Starbucks in either town.

There is not a Starbucks in East St. Louis, Illinois, in which 98 percent of the population is African-American. Nor is there one in Gary, Indiana, whose population is 85 percent African-American.

The recent remembrance of the march on Selma, Alabama had the president walking down the street with many people who fought for civil rights, but once again, Selma doesn’t have a Starbucks. Neither does Ferguson, Missouri.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/jen-kuznicki/why-there-no-starbucks-coffee-house-selma

[Cecily]

Yes, but lattes by definition contain milk, as do cappuccinos. A latte with no milk is just an espresso, and these are all separate menu items at Starbucks.