This month Starbucks launched the Race Together campaign, an initiative to encourage conversations about race around the nation. The first phase of their campaign involved asking baristas at more than 10,000 Starbucks locations in the United States to put a sticker with the words “Race Together” (or write them) on customers’ cups.
USA Today also joined forces with Starbucks by dedicating a whole eight-page section of its March 20 weekend newspaper to the campaign. Among other things, the paper included a "Race Relations Reality Check" quiz prompting readers to tally things such as the number of friends of a different race they have--or the amount of times someone of a different race visited their house in the last year.
But rather than setting the stage for a harmonious nationwide conversation about race, that “first phase” seemed to upset and confuse a lot of people.
After a week of major backlash from the media, Starbucks announced that first phase of the campaign (writing "Race Together" on customers’ cups) had come to an end. CEO Howard Schultz assured everyone it was part of the initial plan to have that aspect of the campaign stop when it did.
But both Starbucks and USA Today have made it known that this is only the beginning of their campaign to continue encouraging this conversation.
CBN News producer Abigail Robertson joined Newsroom Talk this week to discuss this campaign. We took to the streets to see what people think about this initiative, and how they think the issue of race should be addressed in our nation.
We want to know what you think: How should we as a nation, and as individuals address the race issue in our country?