Politics

Here's What Happens When You Talk About Race at San Angelo's Starbucks

By Chelsea Reinhard, Mar 21, 2015
 

“I would like a black coffee,” I tell the woman behind the counter at 403 W. 3rd St. A wrap-around line has formed in the drive-through at just after 10 a.m., which translates to a three-to-five-minute wait for guests who dared to enter the store and seek refuge from the pouring rain.

“Just a plain, old coffee?” asks Lisa, an employee wearing a headset who appears somewhat flustered.

“Just a black one, yes,” I say, telling her to make it a tall and passing over the buck and cents.

She didn’t pick up on my hints. I wanted her to hashtag my cup with #RaceTogether using her magic marker, so I could engage my barista in a sincere discussion.

For about the past week, Starbucks stores nationwide have continually made headlines for the oft-chastised #RaceTogether campaign, a national effort dreamed up by the chain’s chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, which seeks to bring racial talks to the coffee counter in a time of political unrest.

The point is to prove the coffee spot is forward thinking rather than a silent bystander, and to break down racial barriers in one fell and visionary swoop by inviting strangers to Race Together between orders of blacks and blondes.

Idyllic as it sounds, local baristas say the campaign hasn’t had much success in San Angelo, some citing the sheer awkwardness of starting up such a serious discussion between whipped cream, muffins and a chocolate drizzle, while others simply did not wish to talk about it.

“All of the Starbucks are kind of involved with that, but some are more—we just, Starbucks just wants to kind of let people know, or start the conversation,” Lisa danced with apprehension.

She wasn’t sure if anyone else in the store had engaged customers in race talks, but said,  “I personally haven’t. I mean, in the last couple of days I have not. But, you know, if people are interested, there’s the website and all that kind of good stuff as well,” she said, circumnavigating the topic entirely.

Growing a bit impatient as she handed over my coffee cup, Lisa declined making any comment on the topic at all.

“Right now I don’t [have anything to say],” she said curtly. “I want to help this lady, but I think it’s a good conversation to have and I think it’s good for people to be aware.”

The next customer approached Lisa and ordered. “I’ll have the Oprah chai tea latte.”

A few feet down the barista bar, Gabby was working on the customer’s Oprah chai tea latte. She said the difference between Oprah’s version and the regular chai tea latte is in the spice, but she doesn’t have any feelings toward the name.

Questions on why there wasn’t a Jack Nicholson or Selena chai tea latte drew puzzled looks, and Gabby simply stated that it was just an item on the menu that had been added about a year ago.

She said she wasn’t familiar with the #RaceTogether campaign, so when asked if she’d had any good conversations about race recently, she began to move a little quicker and quit making eye contact. She handed the customer the latte.

At a table at the end of the barista bar, Tina Simek sat with her four children sipping hot cocoa. Having stopped at the Starbucks on her way back to the Hill Country from Colorado, Simek said she doesn’t frequent the coffee shop, but that she isn’t really interested in having racial discussions while she’s there, either.

“It’s something that we all pretend like we don’t want to talk about, isn’t it?” she said contemplatively. The conversation then moved to recent racial topics, spurred by an explanation of the Race Together campaign.

“I saw on the news today that they found a black man hanging out of a tree in Mississippi,” Simek said. “That’s going to start a lot of [stuff]. They don’t know if it’s a hate crime or what, but the message is pretty clear when you find a man in a tree. And Ferguson still hasn’t settled down and I don’t think Ferguson was handled right…”

Simek said despite the general discomfort of having race-based conversations with strangers over coffee, she does talk about the issues frequently with those she knows and is close to.

“I told the kids if we lived a hundred years ago, would we have turned our eyes to all the injustice going on?” she said. “Probably, just like everyone else did. Because you would have gotten more crap for speaking out than you would’ve to just turn your eye or say it’s not your problem.”

She agreed the conversations need to take place, she just questioned the venue.

Over on Sherwood Way, the Race Together campaign was having more luck, even if it wasn’t the success story Schultz had intended.

“A lot of our baristas don’t feel comfortable starting up conversations with people, which is understandable,” said Starbucks employee Amanda Donatiello. “I think there have been a couple of customers that actually brought it up and want to talk about it, but I tell them if they want to talk about it they can, if not, they don’t have to.”

Donatiello said she hasn’t personally had any conversations with customers on the subject, but she has talked about it with baristas at the Sherwood Way store, and most of those conversations centered on how people are angry with Schultz.

“We felt like he was just trying to end something that’s bad and people were angry with him for it,” Donatiello said. “He’s wanting to do a good thing and people are angry at him. It’s like, ‘ok’. It’s kind of silly, but alrighty.”

For the most part, Donatiello said, locals seem to want to get their coffee and go, but some have politely taken part in conversations that were going on when they entered the store.

“I don’t know if it would be taboo in general here, but maybe just a coffee shop, customers feel like they don’t want to talk about something so heavy coming to try and get their coffee,” she said.

“There’s lots of hot topics you usually don’t touch and that’s one of them,” employee Heather King added.

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Am I the only one who feels like this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time? If I am paying you for a service there used to be a little thing called "customer service" and it entailed not talking about things that might offend YOUR CUSTOMER! Religion, politics, race, didn't matter you stuck to polight topics. Now starbucks decideds that its going to start up some race talks... Why? We know what the problems are, how does putting some poor barista in a position to piss off a customer help anything? And what happens when talks get heated and ugly as they seem to do with this subject? Race talks are simple...I know what freakin color the person standing next to me is! I just dont care! I only care if they are an asshole. Not what gender, race or sexuality they may be...I feel like the media constantly stoking the fire is part of the problem. Why is it when someone is killed their race is even reported? Until you know the facts they are just a person who was killed, but nope the good ol' media has to try and bias the situation right outta the gate. Its why I barely even watch the so-called news anymore. They dont even pretend to investigate a situation before they are speculating left and right. Just one persons opinion.

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Have you seen the Starbucks questionnaire, "Your Race Relations Reality Check"? Ten thought-provoking, fill in the blank questions like, "My Parents Had ___ Friends Of A Different Race", and "In My Facebook Stream, ___% Of My Friends Are A Different Race". Of course this wrong-headed, forced conversation starts us in the wrong direction, since it doesn't allow for the fact that racial demographics are different from place to place. The racial profile of San Angelo is much different than the one in Atlanta, Oakland, Philly, Cleveland or DC. We are already having these conversations, but it's not the one that the people in power want taking place. The worst thing about the Starbucks astroturf race conversation is, it falsely places a huge corporation on the side of the disadvantaged. They're not really embedded with folks actually trying to make a difference, but in their view, something is better than nothing. What they're trying to do, even if it's inadvertent, is to change the narrative. In their ivory tower, sipping their overpriced lattes and talking about race is better than raising hell in the streets about inequality. They don't really want us talking about why we think cops kill a much larger number of young, black males, or why our prisons are full of people of color. Pony-tailed baristas and suburban soccer moms most likely aren't even aware of the real, systemic problems, and they damned sure don't have any control over it. We don't want to talk about six decades of anti-poverty programs, that despite having spent trillions of dollars, haven't pulled minorities out of poverty.

While Starbucks claims 40% of their employees are minority, their clientele are largely upper & upper-middle class whites. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone can't afford a new Cadillac, and everyone can't afford $7 for a cup of coffee. In reality what they are serving up is a dose of white guilt, not a suggested conversation. One thing I've noticed since this all started a few days ago. People of all ages, Democrats & Republicans, all faiths, all ethnicity, and all races have come together in their mocking of Starbucks, and that's a good start.

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I don't know if I will say this right or not but to me we are one race. Made and put on this earth by the one God. Our colors may be different, but only because our ancestors came from different parts of the world. If it were not for these race baiters things would be so different.

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They must be sipping something other than one of their very own $7.00 Latte with a Biscotti. Here's a link to an article that may give indication of something or nothing; I'm still thinking about it. Ooops! Forgot the link! Here ya go: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/20/opinions/jones-starbucks/index.html

The author did mention that he is, well you read it; "Mellody Hobson, an African-American member of the Starbucks board and a personal friend, is a major supporter of this campaign. How will other corporate boards react in the future when a minority member encourages the company to publicly address issues of racial inclusion?" I have an idea that they will say, 'that is not why we are here...."

One more thing; how are customers going to respond when they stand in line while the Starbucks Employees engage customers in conversation about race? I would find another place to get my "coffee", and pay less for it also.

One more thing; I am not a robot.

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I'm getting tired of dealing with labels such as African American; Latin American, and etc. If you live within the Borders of the USA, and you are a Citizen, you are American!

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Lisa was apprehensive. She is the store manager, is slammed with customers, and all you want to do is interrogate her about race. I would have been pissed too.

Secondly, this is San Angelo...not San Antonio or Austin or Houston. If you are looking for this type of crap, you are in the wrong part of the country.

Lastly, Starbucks should not be engaging in pushing an agenda that has mostly been fabricated by a ratings driven media and the most dividing administration in American history.

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I'm getting tired of dealing with labels such as African American; Latin American, and etc. If you live within the Borders of the USA, and you are a Citizen, you are American!

Hmmmm. Double post. Realize why now...........

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Sir, I believe you have captured and expressed the appropriate sentiment. I disagree with your mild chastising of Chelsea Reinhard; I think she realized, or knew in advance that she wouldn't be spending much time interviewing any employees. Everything else you said is Spot On!

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