Racism in the coffee industry can manifest in various ways, from overt displays to biased treatment of customers.
Racism is a spectrum and systemic. It shows up as:
- Giving a more robust interview to a Black woman, because she's not your perceived expectation of what a barista looks like
- Assuming a Black person at an industry event is a producer
- In company marketing materials, showing only white hands making coffee
- Falling into stereotypes: saying that a Latinx woman is just being feisty when she has a legitimate complaint
- Using race as a punchline in a joke and when criticized, brushing it off as "just a joke"
Examples of racial microaggressions include:
- Customer questioning ethnicity of barista
- Manager asking Black employee what it feels like to be Black in the industry (see also: Tokenism)
Articles[]
- Questions Of Race In Coffee With Phyllis Johnson Of BD Imports
- The White Lies of Craft Culture
- Global Capitalism Organizing Knowledge of Race, Gender and Class: The Case of Socially Responsible Coffee (academic study)
Incidents[]
- Two black men arrested at Starbucks for "trespassing"
- Roasters Guild Retreat 2017: Statement