When two black men entered a Starbucks to wait for a friend to conduct a business meeting, the store’s manager said that they couldn’t wait in the vicinity because they didn’t purchase anything. The manager then proceeded to dial the police, and the two men were arrested, taken to a police station, fingerprinted and photographed. This arrest that lacked any reasoning exemplifies what racial discrimination looks like in 2018.
The coffee giant has been under fire since a video of the two black men being arrested last Thursday at a Starbucks in Philadelphia went viral over the weekend. As a result, the manager was fired on Monday for initiating the social injustice that occurred. Since then, several consumers are now boycotting Starbucks.
“I’d like to have a dialogue with them so that I can ensure that we have the opportunity to really understand the situation and show some compassion and empathy for the experience they went through,” said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO.
“We’re ashamed and recognize that racial bias is a problem we must address,” said a Starbucks representative. To counteract the recent injustice, Starbucks plans on closing its doors on May 29th for employee training on racial bias, and discrimination, to help prevent another similar issue in the future.
As a black 16-year-old, I am aware of the issues that this country has with race. I am still fearful for my life. It seems like being Black or Hispanic automatically makes you a target, and it’s sickening.
“It’s getting out of hand because people judge and do things based on race, they don’t even ask questions, it’s not getting better it’s getting worse,” said Junly Deller, sophomore at Miami Lakes Educational Center. “Innocent people are being discriminated and even killed, because of their race.”
“That’s definitely wrong, that’s stereo typing just because of the color of their skin. You have black folks who co-own Starbucks, like Magic Johnson. So that’s very sad to see,” said James Williams, teacher at MLEC. There’s people of color who take part in making Starbucks the mega company that it is today, and a company that sells coffee, and food shouldn’t be profiling anyone—a service should be a service.
“It’s not new, this is normal, these innocent kids dealing with incarceration over the color of their skin. It’s happening all over. As black people we don’t want any favors, we just want an equal playing field, that’s all,” said Mr. O’ Brien, another teacher at MLEC. An equal playing field, something people of color have been fighting for since their integration into this country, something they sadly still haven’t got.
This injustice rings true to the fact that we still have much more work to do until there is true equality, the equality we’ve all been waiting for.
