I never post on this page or even look at it. First post. Still, seeing as how Starbucks has decided to make BLM tshirts for partners after getting flak for purportedly disallowing baristas to wear any BLM paraphernalia, I decided I would post my thoughts. I am a supporter of the movement for black liberation and the racial and socioeconomic equity that comes with it; but you don’t need to be a supporter to agree with the following:

To be clear, whether or not Starbucks actually made a statement disallowing baristas from openly supporting BLM on the clock doesn’t matter. What’s actually noteworthy was their quick response to quell the court of public opinion’s outrage with a poorly thought-out PR attempt to white-wash their public image. I find it really stupid that they’re spending thousands of dollars on cute little tshirts for baristas to brandish as proxies for the company. This is of course to give the impression that Sbux Corp is “progressive,” “good,” “caring,” etc.

How can a progressive, caring, “community” of a corporation claim to care for the disenfranchised when it fails to pay its workers a living wage and removes hazard pay in the middle of a pandemic? How is it that Starbucks is so responsive to demands its customers make but the demands its “partners” make fall on deaf ears? Fuck a “family.” Fuck “partners.” Fuck all that bullshit corporate language that they inscribe onto us workers. They don’t give a shit about black people, or poor people, or really anyone, because they are a corporation. The amount of cognitive dissonance these managerial types have when they disperse Pride pins and BLM tshirts while forcing us to expose ourselves to COVID-19 is insane.

It’s hypocrisy of the highest order. Starbucks is genius insofar as they’ve convinced their customers to believe they are progressive. They hire women and poor minorities or something and believe themselves the pinnacle of progress. If it were up to Starbucks, our country would be governed by a ruthless authoritarian girlboss wearing a bisexual pride pin.

All BLM support shown by Starbucks post-outrage at the news just shows how ready Starbucks is to invest big lumps of money in their progressive propaganda machine. All the while, they consistently abuse and ignore the very people that they so claim to support and respect.

To Starbucks, as workers, we are all replaceable and disposable. Ultimately, their main goal is to increase shareholder value. They’ll invest inordinate sums of money to maintain the veneer of apolitical progressive-ness they’ve built over the years.

Don’t be fooled! This is a corporation. Your “brand identity” and personal identity are not the same thing. All corporations are implicated and guilty by nature. There is no “ethical” corporation. They are stealing our wages by failing to pay us even a living wage and they’re intentionally putting us in harm’s way while doing so. They could do more but they’re not. Because they don’t care.

Fuck this company and I hope it all burns to the ground.