Your Drinking Isn’t Your Choice

A white man with more money is making decisions for you.

Photo by Roland Samuel on Unsplash

I worked in hospitality for ten years. Half of the time, I worked for a retailer, someone who sells alcohol. The other half of that time, I worked on the supplier side of alcohol. The supplier side means I worked for someone who made and sold the alcohol to the middle man. Both suppliers and retailers work with distributors, the afore mentioned middle man who schlepps the drink between the two.

In an ideal world, these three entities work in harmony. In reality, all over the world, it’s about money. I’ve talked to people around the world about the money behind alcohol politics. And to be sure, it’s bizarre but also consistent.

I’ve also been privileged enough to be in many a room filled with white men in suits talking about who can and can’t do something because another white man in a similar-looking suit has more money and does or doesn’t want something to happen.

We don’t make our own choices. Those white men in suits with money make the decisions. It’s not just in alcohol, it’s everywhere. The United States votes to decide whether or not we’re allowed to make choices. Women’s bodies? No, the white men decide. People of color and marginalized communities, you want to vote to try to choose what happens to your communities or with the tax money you pay or…