Starbucks wants to add training for store managers on “unconscious bias,” chief executive Kevin Johnson said on Monday, as activists held more protests at a Philadelphia store where two black men were arrested after employees said they were trespassing.
Johnson, who has called the arrests “reprehensible,” arrived in Philadelphia this weekend after video of the incident gained traction online.
He said he hopes to meet with the two men in the next couple of days and apologize face to face.
Photo: Reuters
A company spokesman said the men have agreed to a meeting with Johnson.
“I’d like to have a dialogue with them, and the opportunity to listen to them with compassion and empathy through the experience they went through,” Johnson said.
Stewart Cohen, the lawyer for the two men, said he hopes “something productive for the community” can come out of such a meeting.
The incident is a major blow to Starbucks’ image, since the company has promoted its coffee shops as neighborhood hangouts where anyone is welcome.
After a video of the arrests spread online, #BoycottStarbucks trended on Twitter.
On Monday morning, about two dozen protesters took over the Philadelphia shop, chanting slogans like: “A whole lot of racism, a whole lot of crap, Starbucks coffee is anti-black.”
“We don’t want this Starbucks to make any money today. That’s our goal,” said Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, one of the protest organizers and cofounder of the Black and Brown Workers Collective.
Over the weekend, protesters called for the firing of the employee who contacted police, who arrested the men on Thursday last week.
Officials have said the police officers were told the men had asked to use the store’s restroom, but were denied because they had not bought anything and they refused to leave.
Video shows several police officers talking quietly with two black men seated at a table.
After a few minutes, officers handcuff the men and lead them outside as other customers say they were not doing anything wrong.
A white man identified as real-estate developer Andrew Yaffe arrives and tells the police officers the two men were waiting for him.
An officer says the men were not complying and were being arrested for trespassing.
“Why would they be asked to leave?” Yaffe says. “Does anybody else think this is ridiculous? It’s absolute discrimination.”
A woman can be heard in the video saying: “They didn’t do anything, I saw the entire thing.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who met with Johnson on Monday, said the city would review its guidelines on how to respond to requests for police assistance.
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