Starbucks wants its baristas to talk about race in America

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is taking on another fraught political debate, with his company launching a new initiative this week to get employees to discuss with customers the state of race relations in the United States.

“We at Starbucks should be willing to discuss these issues in America,” Schultz said in a company statement released Monday announcing its “Race Together” campaign.


Approximately 2,000 employees of the coffee chain have shared their concerns about racial issues at open forums in cities across the country, including St. Louis, where racial tensions have flared in nearby Ferguson; New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

The company ran full-page ads in The New York Times and USA Today and will partner with that publication, with the first “Race Together” supplement slated to publish Friday.

It’s not the first time Schultz’s company has waded into the national discussion. In 2013, Starbucks’ “Come Together” campaign urged an end to the government shutdown, a year after Washington, D.C., baristas wrote “come together” on cups during debt-ceiling talks.

The company came out in favor of same-sex marriage in 2012, joining Microsoft and Nike in supporting a legalization bill that passed in Washington state.