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Starbucks Campaign Already Inspiring Awkward Conversations About Race
National Public Radio ^ | March 18, 2015 | Kat Chow

Posted on 03/19/2015 10:53:15 AM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Food; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: coffee; conversation; ilikemineblack; race; racism; starbucks; whites
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To: texas booster

Great story.
I had just the opposite experience.
Despite being an Irish Catholic, with a good summer tan I can pass for a middle easterner easily, especially with a full black beard.

I used to go to a junkyard run by three Jewish brothers. They somehow assumed I was a kosher buddy, always treated me like a long lost relative. I always paid cash so they never saw my name.


21 posted on 03/19/2015 11:14:48 AM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
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To: txrefugee
How many blacks live in Schulz's neighborhood in Seattle area?

Let's narrow the conversation to his tribe.

22 posted on 03/19/2015 11:14:55 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hate NPR. I won’t listen to them. They should not be allowed to take taxpayer money to push that boring liberal crap day after day.


23 posted on 03/19/2015 11:15:02 AM PDT by webheart (We are all pretty much living in a fiction.)
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To: txrefugee

A Putz. Yeah, exactly.


24 posted on 03/19/2015 11:15:45 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Tons of caffeine, sugar, and mandatory discussion of race: throw in the Ramen noodle/bottle rocket guy and you have a recipe for disaster! 🍩☕🔥😨
25 posted on 03/19/2015 11:16:14 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The left moves as a choreographed ballet and Starbucks is definitely owned and operated by a leftist. I think the current movement sweeping the left is fear of a counter revolution. As a result of such fear they are pulling out all the propaganda stops. I hope rage on the American side is growing though I doubt its efficacy due to lack of organization and lack of moral fiber. There may be enough strength left./p>
26 posted on 03/19/2015 11:23:17 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: Genoa

FReepers have reported being corrected by baristas for ordering black coffee. “Say `plain’ or `uncreamed’ next time!” they are warned.

Is that demand made before or after one has paid?

“How about a nice cup of shut the f*** up?” I would reply.


27 posted on 03/19/2015 11:24:19 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("I am a radicalized infidel. My bullets are dipped in pig grease.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Imagine you are in a long line at Starbucks just waiting for your coffee while someone at the head of the line is having an existential discussion on race with the barista. My reaction would be to walk out the door and get my coffee elsewhere. Perhaps other coffee places should advertise that there will be no racial discussions and employees just serve your coffee.


28 posted on 03/19/2015 11:25:58 AM PDT by The Great RJ (Pants up...Don't loot!)
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To: Hulka

A friend of ours immigrated from South Africa here as a teen. He signed up for an African-American contest of some sort in high school and competed, arguing that having been born on the African continent, he was more African than many kids there.


29 posted on 03/19/2015 11:26:44 AM PDT by tbw2
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

I invite all the Leftist Lurkers and Trolls here to read this:

What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts


30 posted on 03/19/2015 11:27:12 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: elcid1970
corrected by baristas for ordering black coffee

What? NO WAY!

31 posted on 03/19/2015 11:30:24 AM PDT by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
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To: elcid1970

At delis in NYC, “regular” means sugar and cream. At least it used to. I ought to try that next visit.


32 posted on 03/19/2015 11:35:03 AM PDT by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
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To: molson209

“You can’t ask for coffee “black “. It’s “Uncreamed”” — Dennis Miller


33 posted on 03/19/2015 11:36:35 AM PDT by JaguarXKE (1973: Reporters investigate All the President's Men. 2013: Reporters ARE all the President's men d)
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To: Genoa

So am I. Ancestors came here before 1700 and I was born here. Of course it makes the Mrs a tad annoyed since she is part Apache.


34 posted on 03/19/2015 11:38:02 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Resolute Conservative

Well, brother, don’t ever get her mad at you.


35 posted on 03/19/2015 11:39:27 AM PDT by olepap (Your old Pappy)
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To: skeeter

Yeah, I’ll have a “discussion”, but I won’t sit for a “scolding”. Take it elsewhere.


36 posted on 03/19/2015 11:39:44 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: JaguarXKE

Yea I used to live up there “Coffee regular”, or “Cafe reguLAR” meant cream and sugar. I don’t know if current usage is the same.


37 posted on 03/19/2015 11:41:02 AM PDT by olepap (Your old Pappy)
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To: Genoa; 2ndDivisionVet
... Here's a topic for the next coffee klatch:

One of the bloodiest episodes took place in New Orleans in 1891. When the chief of police was found shot to death on the street one night, the mayor blamed “Sicilian gangsters” and rounded up more than 100 Sicilian Americans.

Eventually, 19 were put on trial and, as the nation’s Italian Americans watched nervously, were found not guilty for lack of evidence.

Before they could be freed, however, a mob of 10,000 people, including many of New Orleans’ most prominent citizens, broke into the jail. They dragged 11 Sicilians from their cells and lynched them, including two men jailed on other offenses.

Italians worldwide were outraged, but the U.S. press generally approved of the action. It was the largest single mass lynching in U.S. history.

38 posted on 03/19/2015 11:41:42 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I have very white skin, but I identify as black, much like transexuals identify as the opposite of what their genitals would indicate.

I demand affirmative action set-asides based on my identifying as black. Yo.

39 posted on 03/19/2015 11:43:25 AM PDT by Dr. Thorne (The night is far spent, the day is at hand.- Roman 13:12)
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To: skeeter

Following this on Twitter, that’s about all I see: scolding. By the thousands.


40 posted on 03/19/2015 11:49:10 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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