After a confrontation between a store manager and two black men in a Starbucks store, Starbucks takes on racism by closing 8,000 stores, for three freaking hours.
The stores are closing to give employees in-house training on racism. One of the things they are focusing on is "unconscious bias." This is something that lurks in the back of one's mind unknowingly. You can't make this stuff up.
Why is Starbucks doing this? To make themselves look better. It all started when a manager at a Starbucks in Philadelphia asked two black men to buy something if they wanted to use the restroom. Then after they used the restroom, the manager asked them to buy something if they were looking to stay in the restaurant. Then when they did not cooperate, she called the police.
Starbucks isn't alone in their racism employee training. Walmart and Target are also taking on unconscious bias. Per Yahoo:
Anti-bias sessions can incorporate personal reflections, explorations of feelings and mental exercises. But one expert says training of this kind can have the opposite effect if people feel judged… According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, there will be recorded remarks from Starbucks executives and rapper/activist Common. From there, employees will "move into a real and honest exploration of bias" where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.
There is nothing that proves any of this training will work. Per Weekly Standard:
Most recently, the Harvard psychologist Frank Dobbin head-counted his way through more than 800 midsize and large U.S. companies that had made diversity training mandatory, as Starbucks is doing. Over a five-year period he found no increase in the percentage of managers who were women or minorities. In fact, the number of black female managers declined more than 9 percent, that of Asian men 4.5 percent.
More on the story, per Daily Wire:
But such data haven’t stopped corporations from paying indulgences in this religious shaming ritual. The goal here is obvious: to prevent further litigious nonsense. By showing courts that they care about bias, corporations can claim that employee failures to follow corporate policy are outside the scope of agency, and that they are therefore not responsible for those actions.
So, while you’re not enjoying your coffee today, remember that inside those stores, important work is being done: by corporate lawyers, to avoid litigation. Not one black person in America today is better off because of Starbucks’ PR routine. But there are a hell of a lot of Americans who might resent the idea that we can always impute racism to your unconscious rather than to actual racist actions.
Starbucks is doing a massive overhaul to the structure of their company, thanks to one incident where the mainstream media overreacted. It's obvious this manager was simply doing her job. You can't just let anyone on the street come in and use your facilities and hang out. Starbucks is going to have to learn this the hard way.
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