Starbucks acted strongly in its attempt to remedy the racist behavior of the store manager who called the police on two black men last month in the store in Philadelphia. But to address the problem, they must do more.
Starbucks closed more than 8,000 of their stores on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct racial-bias education for their nearly 175,000 employees. With the assistance and advice of several prominent anti-racism leaders they sought and employed well established implicit-bias training programs. Let’s praise the Starbucks corporation for what they have done so far. However, they must be told that more is required.
There is a widespread assumption that racism is something that bigoted individuals do intentionally. That might be the case in some instances. However, people are beginning to realize that individuals may commit racism un-intentionally.
This brings us to the idea of unconscious bias. Research has shown that unconscious, or implicit, bias (in other words deep racial prejudice) can lead to racist actions. Thus, employees at Starbucks may commit racism because of their unconscious bias.
To its credit, Starbucks ordered the training of employees to reduce any unconscious bias. However, focusing on intentional or unintentional racism in this way still borrows from the old idea of a one-way cause and effect connection between prejudice (bias) and racism. The causal link between prejudice and racism works both ways–with racism leading to prejudice, and prejudice reinforcing racism.
The prejudice-to-racism view is useful, but it neglects the reverse connection, that running from racism to prejudice. Where does racial prejudice come from? A person is not born with prejudice. A person is not born biased. Prejudice develops as the person develops. Life experiences and socialization processes shape attitudes, values, and personalities. What people think about those of another race is shaped by many social forces. Racism is central to American history. People growing up in a racist society almost inevitably develop racial prejudices.
Focusing primarily on reducing individual prejudice has limited usefulness because it ignores racism that is institutionalized in agencies and organizations, the most serious and entrenched form of racism. It is the most serious aspect of racism because institutional or organizational racism affects many more people than individual racism.
Institutional racism provides the context for individual prejudice and racism. Institutions, agencies, and organizations commit their racism through their policies and practices. If the intent is to change racist behavior in an organization, policies and practices need to be changed.
Starbucks announced that it would start “a review of its training and practices to make important reforms where necessary to ensure our stores always represent our Mission and Values, by providing a safe and inclusive environment for our customers and partners.” If this next step is done appropriately, Starbucks would be on its way to solving its racism problem. Examining policies and practices is more important than anti-bias training.
Individual biases can be corrected, but only at the individual level. A more productive approach is to change organizational policies and practices, so they will not be racist.
