essay

The Afternoon at

Starbucks1

The Incident

On April 12, 2018, a Thursday afternoon, Two

African-American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte

Robinson walked into a Starbucks in downtown

Philadelphia and sat down. They were waiting for

their friend, Andrew Yaffe, a real estate investor, for

a business meeting.

They had initially asked a store employee to use the

bathroom, but were told it was for paying customers

only. They then occupied a table without making a

purchase, which many observers have noted is a

common occurrence at the franchise's locations.

Within minutes of them arriving, a manager called

police after the men declined to leave the premises

because, they said, they were waiting for their

acquaintance.

Some of what happened next was recorded in a video

that has been viewed more than eight million times

on Twitter and was described by the chief executive

of Starbucks as “very hard to watch.” Details of the

episode, which the authorities provided on Saturday,

ignited widespread criticism on social media, incited

anger among public officials and prompted

investigations.

@Starbucks The police were called because these

men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting

for a friend to show up, who did as they were

taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the

other white ppl are wondering why it’s never

happened to us when we do the same thing.

pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci

— Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 12,

2018

The video shows the men surrounded by several

police officers wearing bicycle helmets in the Center

City Starbucks. When one officer asks another man

whether he is “with these gentlemen,” the man says

he is and calls the episode ridiculous.

“What did they get called for?” asks the man,

Andrew Yaffe, who is white, referring to the police.

1 This case is compiled from various sources found on the

Internet. It is intended for educational purpose only and not for

any commercial purposes.

“Because there are two black guys sitting here

meeting me?”

A longer video of the episode shows the police

talking with the men for at least four minutes before

Mr. Yaffe arrives. He informs the police that the men

they are about to take into custody are “not

trespassing” but instead are “meeting me here.”

“That’s absolutely discrimination,” Mr. Yaffe said in

the video.

Legal Ground for Banning

From legal perspective, offering merchandise for sale

implies an invitation to enter, but the store owner is

entitled to ban someone from coming in. The person

could be a suspected shoplifter or a troublemaker, or

he can be banned for any reason, as long as it is not

based on bias against a federally protected class of

people.

There were times in United States history when

restaurants and other businesses refused admittance

to people because of their race or national origin. To

do so now would violate the federal Civil Rights Act

that guarantees all people the right to "full and equal

enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities,

privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any

place of public accommodation, without

discrimination or segregation on the ground of race,

color, religion, or national origin." Those protections

cover such private places as restaurants, hotels and

motels, movie houses, theaters and sports arenas.

Other protected classes include people with

disabilities.

Most state and cities in United States, including

Pennsylvania, describes “defiant trespass” or similar

terms as someone entering or staying in a place

where he has been told not to enter or has been

ordered to leave. A property owner can tell the

individual in person, preferably with a witness, that

he is banned, or notify him by certified letter with a

copy sent to the local police department. Violating

the banning order could result in a disorderly

person’s charge.

Before the incident, Starbucks had no companywide

policy about asking customers to leave, and the

decision was left to the discretion of each store

manager. Because of this flexible policy, Starbucks

had become a community hub--a place where anyone

could sit without being required to spend money.

As the two African-American were arrested, the

incident becomes highly controversial as more people

believe behind the incident it is possible racial

discrimination. Right after the arrest and the heating

debate, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard

Ross defended his police officers, noting they had

asked the men to leave three times because

employees had said they were trespassing. The men

refused, he said.

“These officers had legal standing to make this

arrest,” Commissioner Ross said. “These officers did

absolutely nothing wrong. They followed policy, they

did what they were supposed to do, they were

professional in all their dealings with these

gentlemen. “I will say that as an African-American

male, I am very aware of implicit bias,” he continued.

“We are committed to fair and unbiased policing, and

anything less than that will not be tolerated in this

department.”

Outcry and Responses

The outrage and concerns spread up quickly

nationwide along with the millions views of the

footage posted on social media. In the following

days, the prominent Philadelphia activist Asa Khalif

leads a protest at the Starbucks location, demanding

the person who called police be fired. Soon after,

faith leaders and others filed into the store for a sit-in

led by Philadelphians Organized to Witness,

Empower and Rebuild, a community group. The

crowd sang gospel songs and chanted before leaving

the store. As they prepared to march, one man said:

"Starbucks, you can't hide." "We can see your dirty

side," the crowd responded. The next chant began,

"Anti-blackness anywhere is anti-blackness

everywhere!" "What do we want?" the man asked.

"Liberation!" the protesters replied. "When do we

want it?" "Now!"

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson quickly responded on

April 15 by releasing a statement calling the incident

“reprehensible”. “The circumstances surrounding the

incident and the outcome in our store on Thursday

were reprehensible, they were wrong,” Johnson told

Good Morning America’s (GMA) Robin Roberts

about on Monday. “And for that, I personally

apologize to the two gentlemen who visited our

store,” he added. On April 17, 2018, while protests

continue, Kevin Johnson comes to Philadelphia to

meet with Nelson and Robinson. He tells The

Inquirer that he also has spoken with Philadelphia

Major Kenney and Police Commissioner Ross,

calling the incident that took place in the store

“reprehensible.” Starbucks announces it will shut

down its 8,000 U.S. stores on May 29 to conduct

racial-bias education for 175,000 employees. Experts

call the move unprecedented.

Philadelphia Mayor Kenney has called for a city

review of Starbucks’ policies. Kenney said in a

statement calling for a review of Starbucks policies

that the incident "appears to exemplify what racial

discrimination looks like in 2018." "Like all retail

establishments in our city, Starbucks should be a

place where everyone is treated the same, no matter

the color of their skin," he said. "Starbucks has issued

an apology, but that is not enough." On April 19,

Police Commissioner Ross apologizes to the men,

saying he “played a significant role in making it

worse.”

In the same interview with GMA's Robin Roberts,

when asked about any disciplinary action taken

against the employee. Starbuck’s CEO Johnson

replied, "while I know it's easy for me to say and

point blame to one person in this incident, you know,

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 this never happens again,

so those reviews are conducted as we speak and I've

been very focused on understanding what guidelines

and what training ever let this." After the GMA

interview, ABC News learned that the manager is no

longer an employee of the store in what the company

says was a "mutual" decision.

In May 2018, Starbucks announces it has changed its

policy to welcome everyone, including nonpaying

guests, to sit in its stores and use its restrooms. On

Saturday (May 19) the company announced that "any

customer is welcome to use Starbucks spaces,

including our restrooms, cafes and patios, regardless

of whether they make a purchase."

It added that employees should follow established

procedures for "addressing disruptive behaviors," and

call 911 in the case of "immediate danger or threat"

to employees or customers.

Settlement or More to Come?

While the two men in the incident have settled with

the City of Philadelphia with $1 each and with

Starbucks with undisclosed terms and agreements,

the negative news for Starbucks in Philly continues.

In July 2018, a man said a barista in West

Philadelphia mocked him for his stuttering disorder,

saying the employee mimicked him by saying “OK,

S-S-Sam” and writing on his cup “SSSam.” The

barista is later fired.

On Feb 14, 2019, during a book tour stop at the

Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia and

in discussing the incident in Philadelphia, Former

Starbucks CEO and Chairman Howard Schultz said the

store manager acknowledged to him that she

“probably” would not have called police if the two men

had been white. Schultz said she called 911 after she

“felt a threat." DePino, the lady who shot the video of

arrest and posted on social media and also attended the

talk, interjected during a question-and-answer session,

identifying herself and saying “you are not describing

the incident accurately, and the way you are describing

it is perpetuating the problem."

In March 2019, the Inquirer publishes a story about a

Starbucks location at Broad and Pine Streets that

implemented a redesign, removing tables and chairs in

favor of two high-top tables in a corner. Some saw the

move as “defensive design,” or a way to deter people

experiencing homelessness. The company said the

store had been feeling crowded.

Sources

1. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus- areas/leadership-ethics/resources/the-ceo-of-

starbucks-and-the-practice-of-ethical-leadership/

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbuc ks-philadelphia-black-men-arrest.html

3. https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/16/us/philadelphia -police-starbucks-arrest-protests/index.html

4. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/us/starbucks- arrest-agreements/index.html

5. https://www.inquirer.com/news/starbucks- incident-philadelphia-racial-bias-one-year-

anniversary-stutter-dilworth-park-homeless-

tables-20190412.html

6. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/starbucks- philadelphia-arrests-black-men-video-viral-

protests-background-20180416.html

7. https://abc13.com/society/starbucks-manager- out-after-controversial-arrest-of-black-

men/3350467/

8. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/legal-rights- business-ban-person-property-65571.html

9. https://ask-a-lawyer.freeadvice.com/law- questions/can-a-retailer-refuse-to--39730.htm