The Philadelphia community continues to respond to the arrest of two black men last Thursday at the Rittenhouse Square Starbucks while they were waiting for a friend to join them.
In an interview with “Good Morning America,” 23-year-olds Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson said they had asked an employee to use the bathroom when they arrived and had been told it was for paying customers only. They claim to have put up no argument and when asked if they wanted anything to drink, they said they were there for a real estate meeting. At least seven officers arrived later in response to a 911 call made by the manager of the store and Nelson said he thought, “It can’t be for us.” The third friend joining them, Andrew Yaffe, arrived while the two men were being handcuffed.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson met with Nelson and Robinson on Monday. He said the employee who called the police no longer works there.
“It was completely inappropriate to engage the police,” Johnson said, as the company policy instructs employees to call the police in the case of “threats or disturbances.”
The 911 call released by police features the employee saying, “I have two gentlemen in my café who are refusing to make a purchase or leave.”
Starbucks will be closing over 8,000 of their stores, all company-owned, on the afternoon of Sunday, May 29 in order to conduct a racial bias training program. The training will be based on instruction from various civil rights groups in order to “promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome.”
“I think that Starbucks is taking a step in the right direction for everybody,” said Juliarose Genuardi, an employee at a Starbucks in the Philadelphia area.
Protests led by the group POWER were held Thursday outside the Philadelphia police headquarters. The group marched to City Hall to rally in response to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross saying that police “did absolutely nothing wrong” in the arrest of Nelson and Robinson. These protests followed a sit-in at the Starbucks where the arrest took place which temporarily shut the location down.
Ross later apologized at a news conference and said, “I should have said the officers acted within the scope of the law and not that they didn’t do anything wrong.” He said he intends to initiate a policy change for situations like the one with Nelson and Robinson.
West Chester University Leadership Consultant Amanda Lee thinks more responsibility needs to be held by the police. “I think [the racial bias training] is going to help Starbucks, but I think the police should’ve known it was a racial profile. It shouldn’t just be Starbucks—cops should have racial bias training.”
As a Philadelphia native, Lee added, “In the poor neighborhoods more cops drive around to look for people while you don’t see many cops in suburban areas.”
As to whether it is common for people to loiter in Starbucks, Genuardi said, “I’ve seen it happen as a customer. I’ve seen people not buying anything and taking up space and using the WiFi and have been asked to leave.” She added, “I don’t think someone waiting for a friend warrants an arrest. I also think that loitering in any restaurant and refusing to leave is inappropriate.”
Demi Milas is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in journalism. ✉ DM829393@wcupa.edu.