The Help

There's a recent article featuring Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer, and her thoughts and experiences on how certain folks -- including herself -- are treated based upon the color of their skin, and/or how they dress. Brewer is quoted about what it's like being an African-American woman in such a powerful corporate position, and how it's lonely at the top. It's an interesting read, more for what isn't there than what is.

What bothered me about the article was the pervasive tone that someone in Brewer's position should be treated better than she sometimes is. The following passage stood out to me in that regard:

""Sometimes you're mistaken for the kitchen help. Sometimes people will assume you're in the wrong place, and all I can think is, 'No, you're in the wrong place.'""

I get what she's saying, but it's the wrong message, surely? What we first need to unpack is the notion that "kitchen help" are treated differently than a COO. Perhaps Brewer touched upon that, and it just wasn't conveyed in the article? Dunno. But it bothers me.

Brewer also talks about changing clothes after she leaves the gym, and before she goes to someplace like a department store, as she will likely be mistreated if she doesn't. This is something I've heard about from friends in real life, so I know it goes on. And it shouldn't. But, again, it sidesteps the issue that grips me the most.

There should be no difference in how we treat anyone based upon their perceived status in life. While this may not seem like a radical idea to some, there are a lot of people who do get preferential treatment, and whose feathers would be ruffled if they didn't. I'm serious. We should live in a world where there are not different ways in which we treat "kitchen help" and a COO. We should treat the human being in the $30 Kohl's shirt the same as we treat the person in the $8,000 Armani suit.

Rosalind Brewer may get all this, and may even have said so to the interviewer, and the article just doesn't convey it. Yet, there's a tone to this type of reporting that would seem to imply that 'if they only knew who she was,' then they'd know to treat her better. And that doesn't sit well with me, whatever someone's ethnicity may be.

To be clear, of course I think racist behavior exists, and should be called-out and addressed. And many of the points that Brewer makes are valid and worthy of discussion. But the undercurrent of 'sometimes you're mistaken for being in a lower position than you are' needs to be addressed, as well, because there should be no difference in treatment. And as long as Rosalind Brewer agrees that she should be treated like the "kitchen help," because they should be treated gloriously, then we're all good.