Starbucks To Close 8,000 Stores For Racial-Bias Training After The Events in Philly

Following the events of last week’s incident at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, Starbucks has announced that they will be closing all of their United States locations on May 29 for racial-bias training.

Last week, two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks because they were waiting for a friend and didn’t order anything. The store, however, was filled with white customers that also hadn’t ordered anything but weren’t arrested.

Philadelphia resident @missdepino posted this video on her Twitter page that quickly went viral:

@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

Starbucks Coffee Company announced today in a statement that it will be closing down more than 8,000 company-owned locations in the US the afternoon of May 29 to hold a racial-bias education workshop designed to prevent discrimination in stores. The training will also be a part of the on-boarding process for new partners, moving forward.

The training is said to address implicit bias, prevent discrimination, promote conscious inclusion, and provide a safe environment for staff and customers.

“The company’s founding values are based on humanity and inclusion,” said executive chairman Howard Schultz. “We will learn from our mistakes and reaffirm our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for every customer.