Yeah, who knew?
As a non-coffee drinker in a coffee-obsessed world, I’m pleased to know that at least in this case, I’m not a genetically-coded “inherently racist” white supremacist, by virtue of my whiteness. I am a “cis” white male, though, so I do qualify as “all of the above” in every other ridiculous left-wing sense, so there’s that.
Anyway, a recent idiotic article posted on Afru.com makes the argument that drinking coffee perpetuates white supremacy. Yeah. The ridiculous piece suggests that because coffee was “created by black people,” if you enjoy drinking the stuff, you’re “helping an industry built on racism.”
The idiocy is never gonna stop getting even more idiotic, is it?
Check it out, via the Afru.com staff:
If you’re a person of color, you know what I’m talking about. You walk into a new coffee shop and your senses are overwhelmed with whiteness and you get the glare from the Karens. The white hipster barista lines herself up between you and the bathrooms, ready to tell you non-customers aren’t welcome.
If you have a white coffee drinking friend, he or she may have even let you in on the old coffee joke white coffee drinkers share when PoC aren’t around: “There are three things that are necessary in order to make a cup of coffee, and they are: first, a black man to roast the coffee; second, a yellow man to grind it; and third, a white man to drink it.”
Stop the tape. I know numerous coffee-drinking white people, some of whom are in my own family. I’ve never heard that idiotic “joke” — and I’m confident that most of my coffee-drinking family members and friends haven’t, either.
The nonsense continued, unabated:
Well, I’m here to validate your lived experience; coffee is in fact horribly racist, and there’s data to back it up. Every facet of the coffee industry, in fact, is rooted in racism.
From the moment the whites viciously stole coffee from Black and Brown People to the present-day Karen sipping her morning cup of white supremacy, whites have been able to drink the fruits of our labor and our culture with impunity.
It’s “almost” as if people like the staff of Afru eagerly make up more and more silly “racist” crap because they’re obsessed with race, 24×7. Thing is, that’s on them, bless their twisted hearts.
The article includes a reference to Phyllis Johnson, founder of BD Imports, who wrote in Strong Black Coffee: Why Aren’t African-Americans More Prominent in the Coffee Industry?:
The history of coffee is both fascinating and tragic. Working through this unpleasant history is necessary for everyone involved in coffee. For some, this history is a source of empowerment; for others, it is a source of anger, hurt, and shame. Unfortunately, for many this history is unknown. It’s important that we understand and acknowledge this history.
The first coffees exported to North America and Europe were harvested by slaves. Later, enslaved Africans prepared and served coffees for their slave owners when they were not laboring in the fields.
As we trace the bean that started in Africa and spread throughout the world, slave ships departed West Africa to put in place forced labor to ensure an adequate supply of production to meet demand. As demand for coffee grew during this period, so did enslavement, which was used to sustain production.
For the sake of brevity, I won’t dispute any of the above, none of which is part of my problem with the Afru article. What I will suggest is that forced and slave labor has existed in the world for many millennia, which is not an observation to minimize any of the above, given the above is historically accurate.
The salient point is the fact that forced or slave labor — including child labor — has not been limited to people of color. As Reuters reported in 2009:
Children and forced laborers are mining gold, sewing clothing, and harvesting cocoa around the world, and India is the source [of] the biggest number of products made by these workers, a U.S. government report said on Thursday.
The Department of Labor for the first time released a list of goods produced by child or forced labor in foreign countries after Congress told it to compile one. The department looked at 122 products in 58 countries.
Once again, I’m not minimizing any past injustices; I’m suggesting that absurdly asserting that 21st-century white people drinking coffee perpetuates white supremacy is race-hustling at its worst (or “best,” as it were), which is perpetuated solely to continue sowing the sick seeds of racial division in America.
The Bottom Line
Intentional race-baiting continues to hurt every American, regardless of race or color. Where — and how far back — does the insidiousness begin and end? Great question. But people who view virtually everything in life through the hate-based lens of racism are a disgrace to the goodness of this country.
But, hey — since leftists pride themselves in boycotting everything with which they take issue, perhaps the staff of Afru and other like-minded race-baiters should simply boycott coffee, call it a day, and move on to find further racism around every white supremacist corner.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
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