Dear Kevin, Here's what Starbucks needs to think about (and then do)

I started this year writing letters to various people. Here's my letter to the CEO of Starbucks Kevin Johnson who took the helm 3 April 2017.

Dear Kevin,

Let me begin by commending your organization for taking assertive action with regard to the Philadelphia incident. I feel compelled to start there since I’m about to tell you why it isn’t enough.

I commend your organization and your Chairman in particular, for standing up so quickly in the face of the events in Philadelphia and for setting aside an afternoon to address a lifetime's worth of learned behavior, but I ask myself “Is it enough?” and frankly, I worry that you haven't asked the same question. 

Do you realize that it’s five centuries’ worth of learning that you’re trying to dislodge? (And yes, the history matters.) Do you appreciate all the mis-education that must be undone? (Again, yes, the history matters.) Have you determined what your  long term (ongoing) learning plan is? And what all are you willing to do as an organization, to disincentivize behaviors that have been actively incentivized for nearly 20 generations? 

I've been thinking about diversity (not even diversity and inclusion, just the diversity part) for several weeks. As an educated, Black, woman, immigrant from one of those nations so colorfully described by the president not too many months ago, it occurred to me recently that there can be no diversity at the top of an organization without equal access to resources at the bottom of our education system; and neither of those things is possible without a wholesale debunking of the myriad ugly myths and stereotypes about Blackness, myths and stereotypes that limit our access to opportunity. Anti-Blackness is a thing that must be dealt with boldly and squarely. Is Starbucks ready to take on that monster?

I’m not asking you to invest in pre-K  education – though if I worked at Starbucks I most assuredly would be – but I am saying that the only thing that can unwind generations’ worth of ugliness, and ugliness that is now bound up entirely in national our DNA, is an effort that attacks both cause and effect of racism.

What happened in Philadelphia a week or so ago was effect. And certainly, we can apply a bandaid to the wound but we must understand why the wound was inflicted in the first instance. What is the cause? The cause is stereotypical belief systems. The cause is a presumption of malicious intent, tied to those stereotypical beliefs. The cause is anti-Blackness. We have to name it before we can tame it. 

Does the program  the ADL is going to deliver attack those causal roots? Any gardener will tell you that just lopping the heads off weeds is a short term solution. Is the ADL coming with a weedwacker to trim stops or a trowel to dig up roots?

Starbucks is very proud of its efforts to source “fair trade” coffee. Perhaps it’s past time to extend “fairness” to more than just coffee beans? And to talk about that openly? Yes, there's an obvious financial consequence to doing this right, but I’m not going to try to sell you on that. We've too long made these kinds of moves only because they can be justified by some bottom line impact. We've long since monetized the business of  diversity & inclusion and yet many companies are still far short of their *targets* and resentment and resistance among the ranks remain high, as last summer's Googler meltdown proved. 

Finally, let me say this: if Starbucks is serious about moving the needle on racial bias then your organization, using the power of its market position and access, should demand an equal measure of commitment to D & I of your partners as you are prepared to make. There are different types of sustainability. There's sustainability for coffee producers, and there's sustainability for coffee drinkers. A one day training is fine and all, but the only way to kill the dragon that is unconscious bias is to attack it from multiple sides simultaneously. It must be left bleeding, mortally wounded by the time you’re done. Nothing else will do. Trifling with folks' racial biases leaves Black people at even greater risk (the backlash against forward movement in social justice in this country is well-documented). Bear in mind that it was after emancipation that lynching exploded. It was after Civil Rights that mass incarceration exploded. It's been since Obama that neo-Nazism has become more public.

The truth is that the ubiquity of anti-Blackness is such that radical acts of inclusion are the only way to deal at with this problem. Is Starbucks up to the task?

If you need a name, I'll give you one: Mary Canty Merrill, PhD. She knows exactly how to do what needs to be done.

Here's to your success, 
Elle