The White manager who worked at a Philadelphia-area Starbucks had every intention to racially profile Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson.
Nelson and Robinson arrived at the Starbucks at 4:35 p.m. to meet with a friend about a real estate deal on April 12. The meeting was scheduled for 4:45. Once they walked in, the manager told them they needed to purchase something or leave.
Two minutes after they arrived at the shop, the White manager called the police. Records show that the 911 call was placed at 4:37 p.m.
When police arrived, they did not think that they were suspects.
“As soon as they approached us, they just said we had to leave,” Nelson said during an interview with GMA. “There was no question of, ’Was there a problem here between you and the manager? [or] ‘What happened?’”
The police did not explain why Nelson and Robinson were arrested and did not read them their Miranda Rights. Instead, they were placed in the back of a police car simply for being Black.
Following the viral video, protests erupted at the Starbucks and the manager was removed from working at that location. Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO, publicly apologized to the two men. In a move to “fix” the issue, Johnson has decided to close 8,000 Starbucks so that workers can receive racial bias training in May.
Although training may help some, it won’t completely remove the hate and prejudice. America is country that has always devalued the lives of Black men and women.
