Outside advisers hired by Starbucks after two black men were wrongly arrested at one of its coffeehouses say the company’s policies need fundamental changes to adequately address racial bias.
A video of the arrest went viral in April after a store manager called police when the two men refused to leave a Starbucks in Philadelphia. The company acted swiftly, closing its stores for a half-day of anti-bias training in May, and retaining Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Heather McGhee, a senior fellow of the think tank Demos, to advise it on diversity efforts.
In a report released on Monday, Ifill and McGhee urged the Seattle-based coffee producer to look beyond the single anti-bias session and commit to more substantive policy changes.
“To truly incorporate racial equity and inclusion into all aspects of the business, a company like Starbucks will have to commit to a multi-phase, longer-term holistic process,” the two wrote.
The report suggests that Starbucks, among other things, begin to audit its stores for racial bias, review its base take-home pay for hourly workers and craft policies that outline when action is needed to address specific customer behavior, like staying in a store without purchasing any products.
Starbucks has already announced that it will allow any individual to use its restrooms or cafes without buying anything.
A company spokesperson said the chain is “committed to a 12-month curriculum that is being created by experts inside and outside of Starbucks to develop skills for creating belonging, inclusion and welcoming.”
Ifill and McGhee also recommended that the company analyze the impact its stores can have on surrounding neighborhoods.
“It must confront the issue of gentrification with which it is closely associated,” they wrote. “We recommend that Starbucks convene a panel of housing experts, civil-rights thought leaders and community advocates to deepen the company’s understandings of gentrification and its dynamics.”
The duo suggested that Starbucks advocate for additional anti-bias training for police departments in neighborhoods where it operates and re-evaluate policies on when employees contact law enforcement.
Starbucks says it has addressed several of the issues that Ifill and McGhee flag in their report as troublesome. The report, for example, suggests that the company stop hiring prison labor, a practice Starbucks said it has already ended.
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