Many years ago, back when the corporate coffee giants started to swallow up neighborhood cafes, I saw a bumper sticker that said, \u201cFriends Don\u2019t Let Friends Drink Starbucks.\u201d A similar sentiment was resurrected recently with #BoycottStarbucks. The hashtag went viral after a Philadelphia Starbucks manager called the police when two black men in the store asked to use the restroom without buying anything.\u00a0 The call led to the men\u2019s arrest, which led to national outrage.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t usually go to Starbucks, because I sip my daily caf\u00e9 au lait while reading the paper at my local caf\u00e9. But I\u2019ve always had a soft spot for Starbucks, preferring their milky brew over the stronger stuff my friends like. I made one such friend blanch when I told her my favorite nightcap is a mix of 1% milk, water, and a spoonful of instant decaf thrown into the microwave. When it comes to coffee, I am more Philistine than aficionado.<\/p>\n

But my affection for Starbucks runs deeper than taste, or lack thereof. As I\u2019ve written<\/a> before, I like that the company offers a decent wage, healthcare, and some education benefits to its employees. I even liked their widely mocked initiative a few years back to start conversations about race by having baristas scrawl \u201cRace Together\u201d on their cups. Better a clumsy attempt to engage on difficult terrain rather than no engagement at all. As a white woman, I know just how easy it is to steer clear of the topic altogether.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, I ventured into this avoided territory a few days ago. Coming back from my morning walk, I passed a black man who was standing on the side of the road, shaking his head at a super-sized SUV blocking a driveway and extending into the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, who would park like this?\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna get a ticket, particularly in this neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

We were in perhaps the most exclusive town in one of California\u2019s most affluent counties. The blocked driveway led to a leafy estate behind a stone wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, is this your neighborhood?\u201d the man added. \u201cDo you like it here?\u201d<\/p>\n

I assured him it wasn\u2019t my neighborhood, \u00a0that I was only walking through. (I failed to mention that I live in the next town over, where the houses go for a mere $1-5 million.) I hastened to add that although it was pretty here, I didn\u2019t like how the residents walled themselves off from everyone else while using all the other towns\u2019 services.<\/p>\n

The man continued to speculate about how long it would take before somebody called the police and the SUV was ticketed.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually,\u201d I began, and this is where I ventured more deeply into my own clumsy conversation about race. \u201cI bet you have more chance of being ticketed as a black man than this car does.\u201d<\/p>\n

He threw back his head in laughter. Then he asked my opinion about the Starbucks incident, saying he thought the company\u2019s response and pledge of training was a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like that Starbucks has been scapegoated,\u201d I said. \u201cThis is not a Starbucks thing, That lets white people like me off the hook. It\u2019s a societal problem that happens everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHappens to me all the time,\u201d the man said. \u201cRemember Rodney King? Same thing happened to me long before, only there were no video cameras back then.\u201d He was stopped in Tennessee for driving while black by police, who shot him when he reached for something.<\/p>\n

I said something about how terrible that was, how it was a good thing all these police abuses were being captured on smartphones now.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but we sued that police department and won because of course there was no gun!\u201d<\/p>\n

I expressed surprise that he was old enough to drive long before Rodney King; he looked so young.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow old do you think I am?\u201d he had me guess. I was way under.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fifty!\u201d the man exulted. \u201cYou\u2019ve heard that expression, \u2018Blacks don\u2019t crack?\u201d Except for President Obama, he cracked, they put him through so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

We commiserated over how much we missed Obama.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m JT,\u201d he stuck out his hand. \u201cI\u2019m the foreman on the work crew here.\u201d<\/p>\n

I introduced myself, we shook hands, and said maybe we\u2019d see each other again. I looked for him today on my walk. No JT. No blocked driveways. A lot of wealthy white people living in mansions where black and brown people labor. A lot of wealthy white women walking by. Still, JT and I both enjoyed our conversation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had more conversations since, with white friends. How we are never questioned when using the restroom, at Starbucks or anywhere else. How we are emerging from the oblivion our privilege provides, horrified to see the extent of racial injustice.\u00a0 How Starbucks isn\u2019t the problem: we are.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not much. But it\u2019s something.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Thoughts on what happened at Starbucks?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago, back when the corporate coffee giants started to swallow up neighborhood cafes, I saw a bumper sticker that said, \u201cFriends Don\u2019t Let Friends Drink Starbucks.\u201d A similar sentiment was resurrected recently with #BoycottStarbucks. The hashtag went viral … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Starbucks: Teachable Moment","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[638,639,640,641],"class_list":["post-2052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","category-personal","tag-starbucks-race-incident","tag-boycottstarbucks","tag-conversations-about-race","tag-systemic-racism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2F8Ch-x6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2052"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2056,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}