On MLK: Diversity in Craft Beer

I'm a white guy (see picture over there to the right). It's somewhat awkward for me to talk with any authority about race and gender. I'm a thoroughly modern male; I have a number of black and female friends. I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I've been involved and outspoken at times regarding poverty and race issues in Madison. All of this is to say that I don't think I'm a racist, sweatshirt slogans notwithstanding.

 Somewhere out in the interverse is some video of me talking about race and craft beer. I've spent a lot of time at craft beer festivals; I've been involved in the craft beer industry for over a decade. It's sad to say, but I could probably count the number of african-americans specifically, but non-whites in general, that I've run into on a small number of fingers and toes. It is a predominantly white industry; an uncomfortably white industry. Do I think it's an intentional practice of exclusion? Of course not. But unintentional racial effects are racial effects nonetheless.

So, I was glad to see Chauncey Jackson take up the discussion.

Dr. King was–and the living idea of him is–as close as we have ever come to the human embodiment of equality and inclusion in America. Unfortunately, when it comes to craft beer, those two concepts are pretty foreign. And that doesn’t just apply to black people, but women as well. Although, in recent years, we have seen a significant increase in the amount of women participating in both the industry and craft beer community alike. But, as you likely can see for yourself, those same strides of diversity haven’t crossed over into how the beer scene interacts with black Americans.

This article is a wraparound to Mr Jackson's video. You should watch it and think about the issues he raises.