Photo courtesy Starbucks
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Starbucks employees participate in anti-bias training on May 29 at a US store.
US
Employees at more than 8,000 Starbucks locations across the United States stood down from their espresso machines Tuesday so they could take four hours to discuss bias and inclusion.
The training sessions were the company’s response to an April 12 incident at a Starbucks shop in Philadelphia, Penn., where two African-American men were arrested and escorted from the store. The men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were waiting for a business associate when one of them asked for a code number to unlock a restroom. He was told the facility was only available for paying customers, and they sat down without making a purchase, according to a Starbucks company account of events.
The store manager then called the police, who arrested the men and led them out of the store. Nelson and Robinson had been in the store less than 10 minutes when police arrived.
Starbucks reports the store manager is no longer with the company, and Starbucks has since updated its policy to make café spaces “open to all customers – defined as anyone in the store.”
Starbucks c.e.o. Kevin Johnson and executive chairman Howard Schultz announced within days that all Starbucks stores in the United States would close during the afternoon of May 29 for trainings and conversations about bias and inclusion.
The sessions, called "The Third Place: Our Commitment Renewed" was created under the guidance of national experts including Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Heather McGhee, president of Demos; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, the company said in a statement. It's the first of what will be ongoing sessions.
The "Third Place" reference ties with Schultz's long-standing vision that a Starbucks store is a customer's third place - after home and work - where one can feel welcomed.
It is unclear the impact the training session had on more than 175,000 employees. The Seattle Times, reporting from the company's headquarters city, said few employees were talking about the experience on social media.
In a letter posted Tuesday, Schultz wrote: "Discussing racism and discrimination is not easy, and various people have helped us create a learning experience that we hope will be educational, participatory and make us a better company. We want this to be an open and honest conversation starting with our partners. We will also make the curriculum available to the public."