Race doesn't matter, race matters: Starbucks, Consumption and the Appeal of the Performance of Colorblindness

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? © 2010, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. All rights reserved.