Starbucks CEO: We Won’t Solve Racism, But This Is Right Thing to Do

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, has been defending his company’s new #racetogether campaign aiming to foster dialogue between baristas and customers about race. During Starbucks’ annual shareholders meeting yesterday, Schultz addressed “cynics” who aren’t too keen about the idea (which is a lot of people, frankly) and said, “Over the last few months, I have tried to seek out other influential people who have a greater understanding than I do of the issue of race and racial injustice in America.”

RELATED: Fox’s Bolling and Kilmeade Think Starbucks’ Race Campaign a Good Idea

Schultz also spoke yesterday with CNNMoney’s Poppy Harlow and said he knows they won’t be able to solve racism, but this is a step in the right direction. He cited Ferguson in talking about what moved him to hold internal town halls on race.

Schultz argued that the idea is to have a “positive effect on the national conversation” and help people understand that everyone has their unconscious biases.

The biggest result of the effort so far is that a Starbucks executive deleted his Twitter account after minorities directed their questions at him about race.

You can watch Schultz on CNN here:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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