Here's the Starbucks racial bias training video employees saw

[orenwolf]

I feel this video is excellently done. I forwarded it to my entire family just now.

On behalf of those of us who can walk out of our house every day and think of none of these things:

I’m sorry that things were ever this way, and I’m doubly sorry that my complete isolation from these issues has very likely helped perpetuate the problem.

I’m personally going to redouble my efforts to be aware of conscious and unconscious bias, the efforts that those subjected to those biases have to go through just to get through their day, and do all I can to help others isolated from these issues stand up and take notice, too.

[Mister44]

@cahutchins

Starbucks didn’t offer implicit bias training in the past, because almost nobody offered implicit bias training.

Also I would think people would naively think it wasn’t really needed. Indeed I probably would have felt that way 5+ years ago.

And just to add - yes a very good video that attempts to humanize and elicit empathy, vs condemnation and lecturing that people tend to tune out.

eliciting empathy is how we change people, I think.

[Melizmatic]

That was so much better than I could have ever expected, especially coming from a corporation which is not particularly progressive or ethical in the way they actually conduct business.

I’d thought it would be the requisite preachy PSA’s like the ones many of us endured as kids in the 80’s; sanctimonious, sugar-coated, and no real help at all.

Instead, it was thoughtfully made by a Black documentarian, and actually delved into some of the history of racial bias. Additionally it provided anecdotal insights, and some much needed juxtaposition.

“This muddied river of racism; we still have to wade though it. We haven’t damned it, we haven’t dried it up; it’s still there…”

Brilliant analogy.

That said, I fear that the people who need to hear the message the most will just turn a deaf ear.

I hope I’m wrong.

[Bobo]

@cahutchins

I get the cynicism, but this is part of a much bigger, broader awakening in our culture right now. Starbucks didn’t offer implicit bias training in the past, because almost nobody offered implicit bias training.

As do I, but most large companies do indeed have sensitivity/bias training as a part of their employee training. I work for a fortune 100 company, and have to sit through poorly made videos and do quizzes etc… every year. They’re not as well funded as this one, but we’re also not in the national media spotlight for super racist customer interactions…

@cahutchins

The biases and unconscious racism that many people display every day simply wasn’t recognized by the dominant culture for the last fifty-odd years. You can’t blame one coffee corporation for that.

Please don’t put words into my mouth that I didn’t say. I am in no way blaming a single coffee corporation for being the cause of the lack of recognition of unconscious racism. What I am going to get on most companies for is not being proactive rather than reactive.

@cahutchins

The difference is that now we’re becoming more and more aware of these issues — and more and more able to record and publicize them when they happen. I applaud any organization that is waking up to this problem and trying to deal with it constructively.

As do I. I just wish there were companies recognizing the degree of the problem, and handling this in a preventative/proactive fashion rather than a reactive fashion, rather than only taking these steps when they’re in the international media spotlight, and their balls are in a vice so to say. It’s one thing to do it when you spontaneously awake (or are informed internally of the problem). It’s another thing entirely to do it as a response to a horrible incident and pending litigation. That’s pretty much my only point.

Heck my company at least tries at this, but the budget/quality of material is nowhere near the what Starbucks spent on this. Our revenues last year were almost three times what Starbucks pulled in. We could be doing something of this quality (but aren’t…)

[NickyG]

@Melizmatic

That was so much better than I could have ever expected, especially coming from a corporation which is not particularly progressive or ethical in the way they actually conduct business.

I was under the impression out of major brands, Starbucks generally was given kudos for being better than the average corporate citizen on a number of fronts? Not a big fan of their coffee, however.

[NickyG]

Not trying to divert from the good and serious conversation here, but thought I’d post this, because, well, I found it to be pretty funny.

Starbucks Shuts Down for Racial Bias Training - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah...

[NickyG]

As far as the Starbucks video goes, I thought it was excellently done, and its succinctness is useful in conveying the core messages.

I grew up in Western MA – fairly diverse in some ways, but all in all, pretty white. Definitely pretty white, compared to Baltimore, where I’ve now lived over half my life.

One of the things I really enjoy about Baltimore is being surrounded by so many people of color. It is a majority black city, and where I live is very mixed – my block is mostly African-American.

One of the things living here makes me realize is – I am a pretty damn progressive guy. But holy cow, I am still shaped by prejudices in many ways, the ones that just get hammered in all the time by the media, society at large, etc. I myself still have growing to do, because so much of this stuff is just SO deeply-rooted. And again, I come from one of the most liberal places in the USA, and I’ve been in a very mixed city for over half my life! But those gut reactions can still come.

What I try to do is recognize them, see them for what they are, be as cognizant as I can, and have that feed back into my psyche for the future. I enjoy living here, very much because it is an environment that gives me the opportunity to do this, in a real, daily kind of way.

In a different thread, @TobinL said (to paraphrase): Thank GOODNESS whites will soon not be a majority in the USA, it can’t come quickly enough. A real douche jumped on him in a different thread for expressing such “white guilt” and “white self-hatred,” even “self-racism against whites.”

What a load of CRAP! I too am THRILLED that we are becoming a more diverse, more pluralistic culture. Homogeny is not healthy, it is a weakness in nature. Diversity is an advantage. A plurality of races, cultures, types of all sorts (within reason!) is a GOOD THING. It saddens me that more Americans don’t see this as our country’s true potential, future claim to fame, the ultimate expression of the power of the American experiment: That we can be the most diverse nation perhaps in the history of the world, certainly the modern world, and it makes us supremely kick-ass.

[JennyKayNZ]

Great work by Stanley Nelson and others on the video. I hope (but not holding my breath) that the training and thinking includes the challenge that disabled people face too. Did you notice there were no visibly disabled people in the video?

Imagine being a person of color who uses a wheelchair. How easy is it for that person to leave home and travel to a Starbucks and even get in the front door? So many barriers to service and getting equal access to leading a full life.

Freedom without respect and dignity for people isn’t freedom for everyone.

[anon62577920]

@JennyKayNZ

Did you notice there were no visibly disabled people in the video?

No, because it’s a racial bias training video, in response to a racial bias incident.

Do people in wheelchairs suffer violence often? Are they followed around stores accused of stealing, told “Hey wheels bathroom’s for paying customers” while legged customers stroll on by?

[anon61221983]

@anon62577920

Do people in wheelchairs suffer violence often?

Did you note where she talked about what it must be like to be a POC and have a disability? I’m going to assume that there have indeed been cases where POC who are disable have indeed been treated as able-bodied POC regularly get treated. I can think of one shooting case where the POC who got shot was also suffering from PTSD and was having a psychotic break (the case of Anthony Hill).

Plus, navigating the world for disable people is inherently harder for those of us who are able bodied. @JennyKayNZ isn’t wrong on that point.

[anon62577920]

Yes, I agree a POC in a wheelchair probably gets treated poorly.

It’s still a bit of a non-sequitur IMHO to jump into a thread about implicit bias and complain there wasn’t a focus on people with disabilities.

Some might even view it as slightly racist - an attempt to steer the conversation towards a group that includes white people

[anon61221983]

Could be. But I also see no reason not to push for more intersectionality in our discussions around discrimination.

[mns]

Sbx was not a good place to work so many years ago due to the psyops they wage on their employees. Bloody mind control. And the coffee is all burnt, anyway.

[NickyG]

PSYOPS and mind control? Like MKULTRA/ARTICHOKE kinda stuff?! Now this I gotta hear!

[mns]

Nothing as interesting as mkultra. Sbx would train their employees to “love what you do” as opposed to “doing what you love.” They were obsessed with making employees think they love sbx and making coffee for customers. Come on! Slinging coffee ain’t nothing special. It’s a way to pay the bills. They could just hire people who had a good attitude. The propaganda was so heavy handed and oppressive. This was 20 and 10 years ago. I doubt it has improved.

On the other hand, it is a way to get health insurance on the cheap. It wasn’t good health insurance, but it was better than nothing.