Starbucks isn’t playing with its employees when it comes to racial discrimination because the franchise plans to close all of its 8,000 company-owned stores in the United States for one afternoon to educate employees about racial bias, according to CNN Money.
The announcement comes after the arrest of two black men who were waiting patiently for a friend at a local Philadelphia Starbucks last week. The store manager racially profiled them and called the police.
The training will go down on May 29th and over 175,000 workers are expected to participate.
“I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it,” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement.
“While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution,” he said. “Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities.”
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Starbucks is taking this training very serious because they’ve reached out to experts for help, including former Attorey General Eric Holder.
This is definitely a step in the right direction!
