Starbucks ends "Race Together" campaign after one week

The company announced in a memo that it would stop having its employees write the words “Race Together” on its coffee cups as a way to spark a national conversation about race. In a news release, the company described the rationale behind the campaign:

“As racially-charged tragedies unfolded in communities across the country, the chairman and CEO of Starbucks didn’t remain a silent bystander. Howard Schultz voiced his concerns with partners (employees) in the company’s Seattle headquarters and started a discussion about race in America. Despite raw emotion around racial unrest from Ferguson, Missouri to New York City to Oakland, ‘we at Starbucks should be willing to talk about these issues in America,’ Schultz said. ‘Not to point fingers or to place blame, and not because we have answers, but because staying silent is not who we are.'”