Starbucks will close all its stores in the US for an afternoon
Two men were sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop in Philadelphia without consuming. They asked to use the bathroom and the store manager told them that it was only for "clients" and ... he called the police. The two men, two African-Americans who said they were waiting for a friend to ask, were stopped by the police and spent eight hours in custody.
The videos of the incident became viral in networks. In them, he appears protesting and asking for explanations to the policemen who he claims to be the person the young people were waiting for. It did not take long to fall on Starbucks a wave of criticism for "racist". After apologizing to those affected, Starbucks announced the closure of all its stores in the United States during an afternoon to give its employees training against racial prejudice.
The Philadelphia Starbucks incident was posted on Twitter by a person who was in the facility at the time of the arrest. "Why did they call you? Why are there two men sitting here to join me? What did they do?” Another man heard in the video, apparently the friend they were waiting for. In the images, the agents are handcuffed to the two men and taken out of the establishment without these resisting. The man who claims to be whom they were waiting insists on asking the police what they did. "They did nothing," is heard saying to a customer of the cafe.
It is "difficult to see," Starbucks president Kevin Johnson later said, adding that the measures taken were "erroneous." In an interview, Johnson noted that the store manager has stopped working for Starbucks. The president of the company moved to Philadelphia to find out what the company did wrong. Among the measures that will be taken is a training course for all its employees to combat racist practices. "Although this is not limited to Starbucks, we are committed to being part of the solution." Closing our stores for training against racist practices is just one step on a path that requires dedication by all levels of our company and the partners in our communities, "Johnson said.
All Starbucks stores and their offices will close on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 29. About 175,000 workers will receive this training, as well as the people who will be hired in the future. A video of another African-American, Brandon Ward, published last January, is now receiving attention as a result of what happened. In those images, Ward criticizes Starbucks employees not letting him into the bathroom without having consumed. In the video, the man asks a white American who has just left the bathroom without buying anything and confronts the employees to ask why that client was allowed to enter and not him. "Is it because of my skin color?" He insists, without getting an answer.