Two black men were arrested at Starbucks. The CEO now wants 'unconscious bias' training

Washington Post

16 Apr, 2018 09:02 PM4 mins to read

Starbucks President and CEO Kevin Johnson. Photo / AP file

The chief executive of Starbucks today called for "unconscious bias" training for store managers and unequivocally apologised for what he called "reprehensible" circumstances that led to the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia store.

Starbucks' chief executive Kevin Johnson said on Good Morning America that the company was reviewing the actions of the store manager who called the police. Johnson said that "what happened to those two gentlemen was wrong."

"My responsibility is to look not only to that individual but look more broadly at the circumstances that set that up just to ensure that never happens again," Johnson told GMA anchor Robin Roberts.

Johnson, who flew to Philadelphia as protests broke out, said he hoped to meet the two men to apologise and "show some compassion and empathy for the experience they went through." Johnson said he also hoped to work with the two men "in finding a constructive way to solve this issue."

NBC and CNN reported that Johnson was expected to meet with the two men. Exactly when the meeting would take place was not immediately clear.

The manager who called the police on the two men no longer works at Starbucks, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper described a "mutual" decision between the manager and the company.

Protests continued today at the Starbucks where the men were arrested, with crowds initially gathered outside only to be driven inside from heavy rains. GMA described the protests inside the Starbucks as "a stand in," with NPR reporting chants of "Starbucks coffee is anti-black."

A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter tweeted that roughly 40 protesters were at the Starbucks in a relatively upmarket neighbourhood of the city. One person in the crowd hoisted a sign that read "Is she fired or nah?" referring to the store manager who called the police. Others chanted "anti-blackness anywhere is anti-blackness everywhere."

Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks' chief operating officer, reiterated the call for unconscious bias training among store managers in a morning interview with NPR and called the incident a "teachable moment for all of us." She said that as an African American executive with a 23-year-old African American son, the video was painful to watch.

"It would be easy for us to say that this was a one-employee situation, but I have to tell you, it's time for us to, myself included, take personal responsibility here and do the best that we can to make sure we do everything we can," Brewer told NPR.

The two black men who were arrested for "standing while black" in a Philadelphia @Starbucks will get a meeting with the CEO. https://t.co/HKzCUXPdmz
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 16, 2018

Cellphone videos captured the tense moment last week when at least six Philadelphia Police Department officers stood over two seated black men, asking them to leave. The officer said that they were not complying and were being arrested for trespassing.

"Why would they be asked to leave?" said Andrew Yaffe, who runs a real estate development firm and wanted to discuss business investment opportunities with the two men. "Does anybody else think this is ridiculous?" he asked people nearby. "It's absolute discrimination," Yaffe added.

The two unidentified men were taken out in handcuffs soon afterwards. The men were held for nearly nine hours before being released, said Lauren Wimmer, a lawyer who represented the men over the weekend. No charges were filed.

One of the videos of the arrest rocketed across social media, with more than 9 million views.