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Wine And The African American Community: A Retailer's Perspective, Straight Up (Part 1 of 2)

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It was uncomfortable sometimes.

It was hilarious sometimes, and then it was poignantly funny-not-funny.

It was a conversation -- about African American wine consumers -- that I wanted friends and colleagues in the industry to hear.

Most of all, it felt real. And I wanted more of it.

That's what I remember most, when I think back to the conversation with fellow wine writer Julia Coney that led to one of last year's most read and commented-on articles in this column: "It's Like Mansplaining, But For Race": What The Wine Industry Can Learn About Black Consumers.

If wanting more of that kind of real talk makes me greedy, then I'm guilty and today's post is evidence.

If I could find more people who'd give me direct, un-sugar-coated answers on the subject of diversity in the wine world, and if they'd tolerate my equally direct and un-sugar-coated questions, then maybe we could start to address a few elephants in the room.

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Which brings us to today and, more specifically, to TJ Douglas and the Urban Grape retail store in Boston that he co-owns and runs with his wife Hadley. In the first article, Julia Coney spoke about what it's like to be a person of color shopping for wine, and being followed around the store not because the staff wanted to deliver excellent customer service but because they assumed you were there to steal something. Today, and to launch this series, I wanted to turn the tables to the other side of the wine buying transaction, that is, when the shop owner is himself a person of color.

What's that like?

I asked Douglas that question, and others, pretty much straight out and received in return exactly what I was hoping for: straight out answers. I've organized them here into pivotal moments of his experience over time, starting each instance with "When..."

When he recognized that things would be different for him as a person of color in the wine industry, for example.

When he knows, every day and after many years in this industry, that he still has to try twice as hard and decides to keep going anyway.

When his shelving strategy in the shop -- they call it "Drinking Progressively" -- actually manifests his attitude around inclusion.

When, in all the years the Urban Grape has been in business, he's seen barely a handful of job applications from people of color for anything other than delivery driver or stock person.

And etc.

There's a lot here to say, and to hear, which is why I'm spreading the Q&A with Douglas over two posts. It starts, below, with some context and background and it moves, in the next post, onto the shop floor itself. But there's more (so much more) to explore and bring forward, which I look forward to doing in subsequent posts.

When you realize you're a black man in this industry and everyone else isn't.

When I was 14 I was a dishwasher in a restaurant, and I stayed in the business, moving from there to prep cook to bus boy to back bar, then bartender and server. I moved to Boston in 2000, when I was 21 years old, and I worked in restaurant on Boylston Street. That’s when I realized that I’m a black man and everyone else in the restaurant industry isn't.

It was very unique for me, to serve cocktails, recommend food, and then to recommend wine a little later in the game. I didn't grow up with unique food or cocktails or wine; it wasn’t part of our family life. But there I was, a young black kid selling high-end cocktails and wine to people.

When you understand what you have to do to be accepted.

In the restaurant industry when you greet a guest, you have to be accepted by them. There's that sense of trust when you'll be recommending food and guiding their experience that day. I felt like I had to work twice as hard to get that acceptance. I still feel that way but now I think the acceptance is a little quicker. I hope it is. I hope I’m not naïve in that. I'm older and now and a business owner, and I think I'm better accepted but I still feel I have to try twice as hard for that acceptance.

I also worked in sales [before opening Urban Grape], and sold wine to stores and restaurants. It felt unique, to be one of the few people of color who were sales reps in the Boston area. I'd go into a store to do a tasting or sell to the buyer, who probably haven’t had exposure to young black men talking about pinotage of cabernet sauvignon or Grand Cru champagne.

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