The Starbucks incident is just the latest in a troubling string of bias allegations lodged by African Americans against businesses ranging from high-end boutiques to chain restaurants. Once those policies are established, security professionals say it’s critical that companies apply them consistently to all customers.
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Few days after the incident, Starbucks made good on its promise to try harder, announcing a plan to shut around 8000 of the company’s US-based locations, who will participate so that almost 175,000 employees attend the training program that will address implicit bias, promote inclusion and help prevent discrimination. A police spokesman said Wednesday that the department was still investigating why the men were held in custody for upward of eight hours before they were released.
In the 911 call released by Philadelphia police on Tuesday, a female caller contacted the authorities shortly before 4:40 p.m. said she had “two gentlemen in my cafe who are refusing to make a purchase or leave”.
“Perhaps something good can come out of this and by that I mean, this has highlighted for us that we have more work to do as a company”.
The arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks demonstrates that racism in policing, and in daily life, is still an urgent problem in America. He goes on record saying that while he believes the officers were professional in their conduct, the two Black men responded by “giving the opposite [behavior] back.” . He hoped the two men and she would meet as a “opportunity for healing”. Johnson has called the arrests “reprehensible”. An employee refused them, stating that only paying customers could use the restroom.
In his first public comments since the arrests, Schultz, who stepped down as CEO previous year but remains chairman of Starbucks’ board of directors, told “CBS This Morning” that “the reason the call was made is because they were African-American”. “You never know what’s going to happen”. “So what I want is for a young man or young men to not be traumatized by this and instead motivated, inspired”.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson met with the two men to apologize personally. The movement received the most attention for protests following police shootings of unarmed black men, but its main mission focuses on erasing the underlying, systemic racism at the root of encounters like those at Starbucks.
The demonstrators stood by the counter chanting slogans like “Starbucks coffee is anti-black”.
“It’s unfortunate, but I feel joy because he handled the situation in the correct way”, said Ransom, also a member of Omega.
The coffee company has since apologised over the incident as protesters called for a boycott of Starbucks.
By 5 p.m., the officers were en route to their headquarters with two arrested men. The men were not charged.
“As far as the company’s initiative to rectify this situation by closing all stores for racial bias education training, it’s a positive start”, McCallum said.
Organizers have called for protests to begin at 7 a.m. Monday outside the downtown Starbucks.
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In fact, Philadephia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who is Black, still maintains that his officers “did absolutely nothing wrong”. In one extreme example, the Hart case, they abuse children, are reported repeatedly, and are even convicted of child abuse – but are allowed to keep custody right up until, apparently, they kill those children. For anyone who has experienced being black while playing, driving, walking, napping or simply standing still in a store, there is a mix of anxiety and relief at the outcome in this instance.
