Editor's Notes: Craft Beer has a diversity problem. Show up at any event and the cast of characters will look familiar and fairly homogeneous: white dudes with beards. While the number of white women in beer has steadily increased, the total diversity of craft beer has stayed fairly monochromatic. Beer Kulture, run by Dom "Doochie" Cook and Latiesha Cook, is new site and movement dedicated to spreading the joy of beer with good flavor to urban audiences. They've also started publishing other writers who love good beer but don't fit the standard craft beer image. Toni Canada has provided several excellent pieces, including this one calling out craft beer and its lack of effort in courting the black consumer. Please enjoy!
Inclusion - both a word and a concept that is often lost in an abyss of perception when spoken. Some see its pursuit as imperative, yet elusive, while others show ambivalence to spaces both with, and without it. Still others claim to see it as a forced threat to true egalitarianism. How does the melting pot concept that is often applied to "cultural exchange" manage to slip out the back door like an extramarital affair when it comes to diversity and inclusion? Is there value in welcoming marginalized groups into spaces that have largely been occupied nearly exclusively by cis, straight, white men? What does true diversity look like, and how is it brought to fruition?
Those of us with younger siblings can recount dozens of instances of them looking to be involved with whatever we might have been doing, and some of us remember hearing, "Mama said you can't go if y'all don't take me!". These memories can bring about feelings of nostalgia for some and annoyance or contempt for others. Unfortunately, the latter is the view that many... ( continue reading at Beer Kulture)
Inclusion - both a word and a concept that is often lost in an abyss of perception when spoken. Some see its pursuit as imperative, yet elusive, while others show ambivalence to spaces both with, and without it. Still others claim to see it as a forced threat to true egalitarianism. How does the melting pot concept that is often applied to "cultural exchange" manage to slip out the back door like an extramarital affair when it comes to diversity and inclusion? Is there value in welcoming marginalized groups into spaces that have largely been occupied nearly exclusively by cis, straight, white men? What does true diversity look like, and how is it brought to fruition?
Those of us with younger siblings can recount dozens of instances of them looking to be involved with whatever we might have been doing, and some of us remember hearing, "Mama said you can't go if y'all don't take me!". These memories can bring about feelings of nostalgia for some and annoyance or contempt for others. Unfortunately, the latter is the view that many... ( continue reading at Beer Kulture)
