CNN Communist Van Jones is defending Starbucks for race hustling their customers. If Van Jones is for it, I’m against it. As if you needed another reason to laugh at Starbucks for their ridiculous race hustling race hustling charade.
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| CNN Communist Van Jones defends Starbacks race hustling |
If we don’t tamp down the backlash against Starbucks “Race Together” campaign, I fear that no major corporation will even try to talk about race again — for maybe 10 or 20 years.
Is that really what we want?
Look, I get it. Asking baristas to hold conversations about race is a lot to demand of already hard-working employees. Not to mention, the topic should probably be called “systematic racism,” not just “race.” And there are legitimate questions about what Starbucks could realistically hope to accomplish, here.
But for crying out loud! In the past 48 hours, racial justice activists have spilled more digital ink criticizing Starbucks for trying to fight racism than they have against other (actually racist) companies. The truth is that we cannot have it both ways. We cannot demand that companies address race, and then attack them when they try.
Yes, it seems like harmless fun to pile on or retweet the snark. At some point, all of us have enjoyed the cheap thrill one gets by kicking around a big company online. But the cost this time is that no corporation will want to do anything creative or constructive on racial subjects for a very long time.
In fact, some activists are responding with such little sympathy, empathy and grace, that other corporations are like to run the other way. Again, is that what we want?