Starbucks Manager Called The Cops On Black Men Two Minutes After They Arrived For A Business Meeting
Starbucks is not having a good week.
According to the Huff Post, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson revealed that the manager called the police on them two minutes after they arrived at the store!
They told the hosts of Good Morning America that they walked into Starbucks at approximately 4:35 p.m. Rashon said he asked the manager if he could use the bathroom as soon as he entered the store, but was told it was for “paying” customers only.
He said he didn’t put up a fuss and “left it at that” and went to the table with his friend to wait for their friend to arrive for their 4:45 p.m. business meeting.
The manager approached them and asked if they wanted to order something, according to Donte. They ended up saying no and and at approximately 4:37 p.m. the manager called 911.
When they cops arrived Donte said his initial reaction was ,″They can’t be here for us.”
“As soon as they approached us, they just said we had to leave,” Nelson said. “There was no question of, you know, ’Was there a problem here between you and the manager? [or] ‘What happened?’”
Police never told them why they were being arrested and taken out.
“We wasn’t read any rights, nothing,” Robinson said. “Just double-lock handcuffs behind our backs and escorted out and put into a squad car.”
Video of their arrest went viral which prompted Starbucks CEO to issue an apology to the two men.
Starbucks plans to close all of U.S. stores next month so employees can undergo proper racial bias training.
Rashon and Donte have since met with Starbucks executives to find ways to make sure something like this never happens again.
“This is something that has been going on for years and everyone’s blind to it, but they know what’s going on, if you get what I mean” Nelson said. He also said that he and Robinson hope to “help people understand that it’s not just a black people thing ― it’s a people thing. That’s what we want to see out of this and that’s true change.”