Washington sources added that Starbucks announced that it will close all its company-owned stores in the US for the afternoon on May 29 to train employees how to prevent racial discrimination in their stores. Meanwhile in the wake of outrage over the arrest of two African-American men at one of its coffee shops last week, more than 8,000 stores will be closed and training will be provided to nearly 175,000 employees and incorporated into company training going forward.
Xinhua quoted Starbucks as saying in a statement that the move came after the Seattle-based chain was under fire for a decision by staff at one of its Philadelphia stores to call the police on two African-American men when they did not buy anything and asked to use the restrooms.
Moreover the two men were told they could not use
the restrooms unless they are paying customers. Further they explained that
they were waiting for a friend, who later arrived. Police arrested them and the
footage of which has been viewed millions of times and drawn widespread
condemnation. Furthermore the company's CEO Kevin Johnson has apologized for
the incident and the coffee giant confirmed that the Philadelphia employee who
called the police is no longer with the company.
