USA Today sure knows what deserves an in-depth investigation.

With so few pressing issues facing the country and so little corruption to investigate they found the time to sic an investigative reporter on a story that everybody in the country should turn their attention to: the fact that coffee shops are staffed by a disproportionate number of White people.

From major chains to local shops, the coffee business is disproportionately white. Data shows little progress made, despite cafes' recent pledges. https://t.co/NRzg65ExEV

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 14, 2023

This, I admit, fits with my personal experience, although I would add that they are also disproportionately staffed by the tattooed, the pierced, and the pronoun-pin-wearing.

There is, it appears, a certain type of person who is inclined to spend their time in Starbucks slinging milk/coffee/sugar drinks at people, and this is a crisis we must address. Personally, I think the pronoun pins should be addressed first, followed by the piercings, then the tattoos, and in the next decade, they should finally address the racial imbalance.

But that is just me. The pronoun pins are stupid, the piercings ugly, the tattoos kinda bizarre, and the racial mix should be fixed by force-feeding Starbucks Frappuccinos to people of all races equally.

The nation’s largest coffee brand joined the ranks of companies pledging to increase diversity in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Starbucks set a goal of 30% people of color at all corporate jobs and 40% in every retail and manufacturing role by 2025.

Two years later, the company’s own workforce demographic reports show there is still much progress to be made: Less than half of all roles reported by the company had reached the goal by 2022.

The connection to George Floyd’s untimely death is a bit hard to suss out, I have to say. Are coffee shops generally places where employees tackle felons and restrain them when they apply for jobs? I have never seen nor heard of this, and I think I would have. I admit to enjoying an occasionally working session in a Starbucks when I feel the need to get out of the house, although my preferred drink when visiting Starbucks is either tea or chai rather than something with whipped cream.

My favorite Starbucks employee, by the way, is Asian Indian, which I am informed is considered White-adjacent these days–although she is from southern India, and hence darker skinned than the average northern Indian, so maybe she counts as a minority still.

It’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing racial intersectional ladder, as hard as I try.

Black representation was particularly low. From 2020 to 2022, Starbucks’ own numbers show no change among baristas and shift supervisors and less than 1 percentage-point improvement among store managers. Starbucks reported only a 1-point gain for regional VPs, the top retail position.

One question unasked and unanswered is obvious to me: are there a proportionate number of Black applicants for these jobs? Is there some untapped reservior of potential Black shift supervisors? Given the fact that such positions presumably require substantial experience on the job, it seems likely that a disproportionately White population from which to recruit would yeild a disproportionately White pool of qualified applicants.

Just sayin’.

The U.S. coffee business is disproportionately white. From the trade business to board rooms to baristas behind the counter, people of color can be hard to find, said Phyllis Johnson, founder of the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity.

“When you look at a consuming country, oftentimes, what you see is such a small representation of what coffee is,” Johnson said. “A lot of the opportunities are gatekept.”

That the opportunities are “gatekept” is an assertion, not an established fact. To arrive at that conclusion requires believing that all racial disparities are the result of intentional discrimination, and such an accusation requires evidence. There are all sorts of reasons why people of different races and backgrounds might gravitate to a profession, and plenty of evidence that disparities can happen naturally.

Is there are movement to ensure the NBA is more racially diverse? Not that I have heard of, and I don’t expect that one will develop any time soon. What about other sports?

What about Soul Food restaurants? Are the staffs there racially representative of the community? Scandanavian restaurants (do they exist?)? Jewish delis? There is so much to investigate, and so little time.

And, to remind you, USA Today has this story in the category “Investigations,” which means they chose the topic and put resources into it. It isn’t a news story with a time sensitive “hook.” A reporter and an editor chose this as enterprise reporting.

It has become a commonplace observation that the demand for racism far exceeds the supply, so it requires real digging (and even invention of “hate crimes”) to supply that demand.

Oppression must be created in order to decry. And people wonder why race relations are becoming more fraught.

The media wants them to be, and stokes racial resentment.