African Americans arrested at Starbucks sign symbolic one dollar agreement
The controversial arrest of two African-Americans in a Starbucks store last month in Philadelphia, whose image went viral, was resolved in that city by a symbolic dollar and a promise to establish a program dedicated to young entrepreneurs. The two African-Americans, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, whom the cafeteria chain accused of staying in one of them without consuming anything, accepted a dollar of compensation in exchange for Philadelphia investing 200 thousand dollars in programs for young entrepreneurs, according to a statement issued the company itself on Wednesday.
The men and their lawyer stated that "the agreement is an effort to make sure that something positive comes out of the incident." "I am pleased to have resolved the possible claims against the city in this productive way," said Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. "This was an incident that caused a lot of pain in our city and put us under the national focus for unwanted reasons," he said.
For his part, the president of Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, thanked in the statement to Donte and Rashon "for their willingness to be reconciled." "I appreciate the opportunity to start a relationship with them to share learning and experiences, Starbucks will continue taking measures derived from this incident to repair and reaffirm our values and our vision of the type of company we want to be," said the executive.
Nelson said that "he considers the incident a case of being in the wrong place at the right time, due to the result that can be obtained." He and his partner will have the opportunity to contribute information based on their personal experience to the former US Attorney General, Eric Holder, as part of the company's long-term diversity and equity efforts. The company has also offered them the opportunity to complete their university degrees with a scholarship through the Starbucks University Achievement Plan, an agreement with Arizona State University, available only to Starbucks members.
The entrepreneurship program, on the other hand, is aimed at students at public high schools in Philadelphia. Nelson and Robinson will participate in the design of the program but will not receive money from this fund, the mayor's office said in a statement. The US multinational announced earlier that it would close one afternoon the more than 8,000 stores it has in the country to provide an educational session to its nearly 175,000 workers, a course that, it said, will become part of the process to undertake new hires.
The decision came days after Donte and Rashon were arrested in one of their premises in Philadelphia when the manager called the police because they were sitting in the cafeteria without consuming, although the two men argued that they were waiting for another companion to ask. The record of the arrest which sparked a strong controversy in the United States because of the issue of racial profiling will be deleted as part of the deal. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson moved to Philadelphia to apologize to the men in person.