BIPOC Stories - Cydni Patterson
Inspired by this cultural moment and the Black Lives Matter movement, I started a series of Instagram posts to share the stories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour in coffee. You can find this post featuring Cydni Patterson here, and these are Cydni’s thoughts in full.
“My name is Cydni Patterson and I am located in Durham, NC. Pre- Covid I was working with Caravela Coffee, which was a wonderful experience. Now I manage one of my local farmers’ markets on Saturdays and I am unemployed with coffee currently.
My experience with discrimination has been apparent since the beginning. As a baby barista, when my family would come in and PURCHASE coffee with the intent to tip well and support me, they were always monitored in a weird way that made us feel uncomfortable. As an Assistant Manager, I had to email upper management to ask to be treated with the same respect that the other Assistant Managers in the company were treated in emails from the trainer. I was the lowest paid Assistant manager in the company. When I was looking for side work to subsidize my income, I got chastised because I made the company “look bad”. That’s just to name a few. The list of micro and macro aggressions is so long.
When black people and other minorities are only begrudgingly accepted in front of house positions, their pay will never be enough to afford the intangibles that really put you ahead in this field. Anthony Ragler’s Barista Competition performance spoke to this truth. The low wages keep you from being able to go to competitions and expos. You can’t afford the high quality camera equipment for your Chemex brew guide to make a dent in the algorithm. You can’t buy the home coffee set ups to practice. Many companies do not invite their front of house coffee pros to the pro dev things that they offer. I have always wanted more. More knowledge, more access to equipment, more money to thrive and help my family and friends. This field makes you fall in love with the artistry and creativity and then shuts the door in our faces.
The casual customer can make some more effort to not be racist. I’ve been called monkey. I’ve had people go into explicit detail about what they think about my body. But the biggest hindrance is how people just don’t tip black folks the same. So if our pay is subsidized by tipping, and the tipping gods are always moving the goal post, many black and brown folks find themselves the losers despite how good they are at their craft and how sweet they smile when they take orders. This is why every time companies don’t allow their front of house employees to grow beyond the cafe, they relegate them to a place of inherent pay inequities.
Anti- racism should be an expected business expense. Y’all gotta invest in us. Invite everyone to the cupping table. Make pathways to expo. Search out every educational opportunity and subsidize it. This is good for business and it is good for our field. That’s the gag. The racism hasn’t made shops more profitable. Coffee is a volume based business, and the more inclusive the space is the more people who can see themselves in your shops, and in decision making positions the more people that will give your experience a chance.
We don’t talk about racism, because it means that many people will have to confront the hands that have helped them. They will be made aware why their rent is so cheap on this side of town and why the bank gave them a loan, and why their parents could go into their home equity to get their business through lean months. And maybe folks will recognize that every aspect of our lives is touched by this. I am always open to talk about it, because I know I couldn’t be who I am on my own. I’m 4.11.5, so I probably couldn’t even reach bootstraps if they were given to me. We are so linked together, and the racism that directly harms black folks, LGBTQIA folks, immigrant folks, low income folks, and disabled folks indirectly harms all of us.
Sorry this is so long winded. Thank you for hearing me out!
ONE MORE THING! We as an industry need to rally or financial and moral support behind organizations like Glitter Cat Barista and Getchusomegear. They have acknowledged problems and have come with solutions. They are reaching their hands out and inspiring folks to do the same. They make coffee home for so many folks!
I believe in us! Really I do!”
