Racial Discrimination at Starbucks Incident

Last Thursday, two black men were arrested for sitting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They anticipated the arrival of a friend, and decided to wait for him before ordering their drinks together. A Starbucks employee, somehow perceiving them as a threat or disturbance, asked them to leave. When they refused, the employee called the police, who arrested the men on suspicion of trespassing.

Many aspects of this scenario are extremely problematic and questionable. First of all, the two black men were eventually released due to lack of evidence. Not only was this entire incident extremely disrespectful to the men, but it was also a massive waste of the police’s time. While this unfolded, the police could have been outside capturing legitimate criminals instead of arresting people whose alleged “crime” was sitting at a café. As seen in the video, six officers were present at the scene and involved in making the arrest, which seems like completely unnecessary force.

The two men had originally asked to use the bathroom, and were declined due to Starbucks’ policy of not allowing non-paying customers to use store bathrooms. However, they did not question that decision any further or cause any disturbance—they simply sat there and waited for their friend. According to the customer who filmed the viral arrest video, many others in the café at the time had been sitting there for longer than the two men had without purchasing anything, but were not accosted by any Starbucks employees. There is absolutely no reasonable justification for the fact that they were forcibly removed by the police, especially since they had been planning to purchase drinks later on. Even if that had not been their original plan, they still should have been allowed to sit and wait.

This Starbucks incident may seem extreme to some, but make no mistake—it was born from many miniscule, everyday manifestations of racism. This arrest is directly connected to the constantly perpetuated stereotype that black men are inherently animalistic and violent. This incident is connected to every single time that a person of color has received wary looks from people in restaurants or been asked to leave an establishment for no reason at all.

It makes no sense to be shocked by what happened at Starbucks if you continue to allow smaller instances of discrimination and alienation to happen, because it is the buildup of continued silence about these small acts of discrimination that allow larger incidents to occur.

Luckily no one was hurt, but the Starbucks employee displayed a disgusting bias that some like to believe doesn’t exist anymore. I am sure we would like to believe that we live in a “post-racial society” where fairness is a reality, but blatantly discriminatory acts like this Starbucks incident remind us how much more progress our nation must make towards racial equality.