Regardless of his spoken intentions to not run for office, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz took another step into politics last week with his announcement that his baristas would start conversations about race relations by writing “Race Together” on the coffee cups and engage in intense small talk about the issue. This is the first of many endeavors to come as part of his race initiative, which also includes employee forums, special newspaper sections in USA Today, the hiring of 10,000 at-risk young people and the opening of more stores in inner cities.
While generally derided for this initial, weeklong venture, Schultz should be commended for at least getting the race conversation started at a time when most people are fearful of approaching the subject because of offending someone.
There is much for people to discuss when it comes to race relations, as evident from the recent protests throughout the country supporting the African-American men who were killed by white police officers. It’s been reported that some police officers are reluctant to talk about recent shootings even with their African-American colleagues.
No matter our opinion about this particular move, Schultz achieved his goal: to get people talking — even if it’s just people saying how laughable or at least inappropriate it is for international company like his to have its employees discuss race relations while fulfilling coffee orders.
While we may not have appreciated the awkward, serious small talk with Starbucks’ baristas, it’s the dialogues that followed that will matter the most.