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Special Report Features Candid Views Of Race Relations in Milwaukee

Stephen Brashear
/
Getty Images
Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz addresses the 'Race Together' program during the Starbucks annual shareholders meeting March 18, 2015 in Seattle, Washington.

Last week, the Starbucks coffee chain announced its initiative to get people to talk about the sensitive issue of race.  The plan was pretty straightforward – have its baristas write #RaceTogether on coffee cups and initiative conversations. 

But the idea almost immediately became the source of ridicule on social media,criticized as heavy-handedor quixotic.

But take Starbucks out of the equation, and how do you initiate a dialogue about race relations and inequality?

That’s exactly what a special report, titled Breaking down racial barriers: Hopeful Milwaukeeans build a better Brew City, published on OnMilwaukee.com seeks to answer.

Senior writer Molly Snyder interviewed people in the Milwaukee area about their personal experiences around the topic of race and equality.

"I asked everyone that I interviewed whether or not they thought things were getting better or getting worse, and nobody had a definitive answer on that. I do feel that everyone I talked to has hope and has optimism, but everyone feels like there's so much work that needs to be done," Snyder says.