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RACE DOESN'T MATTER, RACE MATTERS

Starbucks, Consumption and the Appeal of the Performance of Colorblindness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2010

Bryant Simon
Bryant Simon*
Affiliation:
Department of History and American Studies, Temple University
*
Professor Bryant Simon, Department of History, Temple University, 913 Gladfelter Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122. E-mail: brysimon@temple.edu
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Abstract

This enthographically-based essay uses the case of Starbucks and the company's diversity policies and relationship with Magic Johnson to explore the desire for postracialism in post Civil Rights—post Martin Luther King, Jr. and post protest—mainstream America. Where did this desire come from and how did corporate America package this desire? What is the relationship between the selling of postracialism and voting for Barack Obama? What are the implications of these marketing moves? What do they tell us about business and about ourselves?

Keywords

PostracialismDiversityStarbucksMagic JohnsonBarack Obama
Type
State of the Discipline
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Fall 2010 , pp. 271 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2010

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