Starbucks has tapped a few esteemed blacks to develop the curriculum for their racial bias training next month. Find out who will be behind it, plus details about more complaints at the Philly store and more inside…
Starbucks is making all the headlines after two black men were arrested at a store in Philadelphia while waiting to meet up with a friend. As the backlash took over social media, Starbucks immediately issued an apology and the CEO, Kevin Johnson, went on television to personally apologize. And they’re doing more than apologizing.
We told you Starbucks will be closing nearly 8,000 stores on May 29th to train employees on racial bias. The trainings will address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion and prevent discrimination, the company said.
Luckily, they decided to hire a few black people to develop the curriculum of these trainings and they will also monitor the effectiveness of the company’s policy and training measures. Good, because we were worried.
BREAKING: LDF President and Director-Counsel @Sifill_LDF will join a team of experts to develop an anti-discrimination training curriculum for Starbucks employees and monitor the effectiveness of the company’s policy and training measures. More: https://t.co/NBRs6OKc0Bpic.twitter.com/pp6XZoKJJ2
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) April 17, 2018
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP League Defense and Education Fund; Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Heather McGhee, President of Demos; (along with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt) are the group of leaders who will provide guidance to Starbucks.
Sherrilyn Ifill http://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-president-and-director-counsel... ">issued a statement about joining the team:
“Being treated with respect and dignity at a place of public accommodation is an essential aspect of full citizenship. The reality is that most Black Americans regularly face the indignities of being treated with suspicion, asked to pre-pay for service or denied service altogether, or told they cannot use a store bathroom. That reality was underscored in stark terms last week, when two Black men went to a Starbucks in Philadelphia for a meeting, only to be arrested and spend hours in police custody. The shocking discrimination they endured reflects the dual reality for many Black people who suffer both from race discrimination by retailers and racial profiling by law enforcement.
“Starbucks has expressed its intention to take seriously this critical effort and to work long-term to fulfill its obligation to ensure that all customers are afforded dignity and respect in its public spaces. This will take work. Starbucks must make clear that it does not tolerate any racial profiling or discrimination of any kind in its stores, and it must identify and implement concrete and measurable steps to keep itself accountable to that commitment.
“LDF has long worked to eradicate race discrimination against customers by retailers. This work is the legacy of this nation’s civil rights laws which were designed to attack discrimination in public spaces – schools, transportation, public accommodations – and to protect the dignity of communities of color in these spaces. Working with Starbucks to design a training curriculum, and to implement the additional measures necessary to identify and remedy the racial discrimination and bias exhibited in this incident, and others like it, furthers that work.”
Of the U.S. based stores, 8,222 are company owned, and those are the stores that will participate in the training. It’s unclear if the remaining 5,708 stores that are licensed will participate as well. So your favorite Starbucks might be shut down on the afternoon of May 29th. There are over 28,000 Starbucks stores worldwide.
Oh, and get this…
The city of Philadelphia has reportedly launched an investigation into additional “informal complaints” at the downtown Starbucks location. Go figure! The city’s mayor Jim Kenney said they are looking into the complaints.
"The PCHR has received informal complaints about the specific Starbucks location since the matter arose," the commission said in a statement."Any information regarding these complaints are part of our current investigation, and thus are deemed confidential."
Good. We're sure there are several more cases like the one that just went down.
BONUS:
Eric Holder is toying with the idea of running for president! Check it below:
Is Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder running for president?
"Yeah, I'm thinking about it," he tells @chrislhayes
Watch. pic.twitter.com/HDGUJlxlS1
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 18, 2018
Would he get your vote?
Photo: Getty
