The Philly Starbuck's Arrest: Negrophobia Is Real -- And Black People Weren't Surprised At All

vostok

Well-Known Member
Starbucks faces racism accusation after this video emerges
To be black in America is to live a life where even the most mundane activities can threaten one's dignity and, in the worst cases, imperil our safety, security and sanity.

In a much-discussed incident last Thursday -- the video of which went viral online over the weekend --
a manager at the Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia called the police because two black men were allegedly trespassing. They were arrested and detained for eight hours, before being released without charge. According to an eyewitness account, there were numerous white customers who were at the same Starbucks for several hours, using the Internet and the restrooms. They customers were allowed to go about their business unmolested.

I loathe garden variety "racism chasing"; it is the low-hanging fruit of the racism beat. In post-civil rights era America its returns have and will continue to diminish in terms of shaping the narrative and speaking effective truth to power.

Yes, outrage at injustice and wrongdoing is understandable, needed, and necessary. But we should also always be sure to ask the foundational question: What is this an example of?

Last Thursday's incident at the Philadelphia Starbucks in is instructive in several ways.

Black people are hyper-visible in American society. Thus, a dualism: Historically and in the present, black bodies, black culture and black creativity are objects of white fascination, white desire and white profit. Real black people -- not as objects on a TV or computer screen, in a movie, or as athletes, singers and rappers -- are all too often viewed by white Americans as a threat.

Negrophobia is real and remains present in almost every area of American life.

The American legal system discriminates against black and brown people, beginning with their initial encounters with the police through to incarceration and parole. The police who arrested the two black men at Starbucks have a large amount of discretionary power. They made a choice to publicly humiliate those men and then hold them in jail for eight hours, despite no indication they had committed any crime. Those same police officer also made a choice not to investigate or arrest the white (and other nonblack) customers at Starbucks who were also technically trespassing.

The white Starbucks manager initiated a series of events that could have resulted in the two men being killed or otherwise injured by the police for the "crime" of waiting for their friend and then asking to use the bathroom. The manager's intent is irrelevant. The outcome was racist. Never forget that negrophobia can be lethal.

Interpersonal racism is one of the means through which structural racism is made immediately real and present. It has been repeatedly shown by social scientists and other researchers that America's police are racist towards nonwhites, and especially toward black people. This is a power dynamic which exists independent of the skin color of any individual police officer. Richard Ross, the Philadelphia police commissioner, is a black man. He defended the actions of the officers who arrested the two black men at Starbucks.

Starbucks is a multinational corporation that sells its products in America by using language and images that extol the virtues of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion. In practice this is often no more than empty symbolism. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has done nothing substantive beyond issuing a bland apology and implementing "implicit bias" training and workshops in order to blunt what could have become a public relations disaster.

This is the intersection of neoliberal multiculturalism and racial capitalism. Black and brown people are featured in marketing campaigns. Starbucks continues to earn money by expanding into "urban" communities and neighborhoods. But while Starbucks touts itself as a "community partner," what happened in Philadelphia last week suggests there may be no real concern for black and brown people's immediate safety and well-being.

The arrest of two black men at Starbucks whose "crime" was doing what so many other people do in the same space on a near-daily basis resonates not because the indignity and peril are in any way surprising, but because such a horrible experience is commonplace for black people in America. It is the essence of what public intellectual and activist Cornel West described some years ago as "niggerization."

Black people are simultaneously tired and angry for good reason. Racial battle fatigue is all too real.

Ultimately, one of the greatest privileges that comes with being white in America is the freedom to ignore racism and then to repeatedly claim shock at how black and brown people are still, in the 21st century, imperiled and humiliated because of the color of their skin.

What happened last Thursday at the Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia is but one more example of that history of racial pain, racial privilege and racial astonishment.

(https://www.alternet.org/philly-starbucks-arrest-negrophobia-real-and-black-people-werent-surprised-all)
 

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
An adult african american male [chief of police] defends arrests.

Dont worry homeless now have a precendent to stay inside of any starbucks during business hours, homeless crisis averted!
 

vostok

Well-Known Member
part 2

Starbucks to shut more than 8,000 cafes for race training
Coffee chain Starbucks is to close more than 8,000 company-owned branches in the US for an afternoon next month to carry out "racial-bias" training.

The aim is to prevent discrimination in Starbucks stores.

The move comes after the firm had to to apologise over last week's arrest of two black men who were waiting for a friend in a Starbucks in Philadelphia.

Starbucks' boss said he had been "learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it".

Chief executive Kevin Johnson said he had spent the last few days in Philadelphia.

"While this is not limited to Starbucks, we're committed to being a part of the solution.

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," he said.

All Starbucks company-owned branches and corporate offices will be closed in the afternoon of Tuesday, 29 May.

Nearly 175,000 staff will receive the training, as will all future recruits. The
training will

"address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome", the company said in a statement.

Following the incident in Philadelphia, amateur video showed police placing the two men, who were accused by shop staff of trespassing, in handcuffs.

The footage was widely shared after it was posted on Twitter and led to accusations of racial profiling.

Starbucks chief executive Kevin Johnson said the video was "hard to watch" and that the actions taken were "wrong".

In an interview on Monday, Mr Johnson said the Philadelphia branch manager who called police on the two men last week has now left the company.

(http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43803756)

 

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
Last week a black 14 year old that grew up in a affluent white area in Michigan tried knocking on a door for directions after missing his school bus and was fired upon by the home owner, welcome to America.
 

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Last week a black 14 year old that grew up in a affluent white area in Michigan tried knocking on a door for directions after missing his school bus and was fired upon by the home owner, welcome to America.
I know i know, just last week here in Oregon, two self identified white, ultra liberal lesbians drugged, kidnapped and killed their 6 adopted children of color, after driving off a cliff into the pacific ocean in california. One of th ose children being Devonte Hart. Pathetic white people, RIP Dante.
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
I know i know, just last week here in Oregon, two self identified white, ultra liberal lesbians drugged, kidnapped and killed their 6 adopted children of color, after driving off a cliff into the pacific ocean in california. One of th ose children being Devonte Hart. Pathetic white people, RIP Dante.
i'm sorry a black man fucked your one and only ever girlfriend
 

Novabudd

Well-Known Member
This kind of idiotic bullshit doesnt just happen in the USA. Its rampant here in Canada as well. Im not sure training for employees is the be all end all answer either. They'll learn the proper respones to people of color but inside, where it really counts, they'll still be mouth-breathing nuckle-dragging racist morons.
Just sayin.
 

SneekyNinja

Well-Known Member
Imo, the reaction is fucking retarded.

Just fire the idiot that called the cops, use internal comms to warn if you're not going to treat all customers exactly the same, then you're gone. Job done.

Most people simply aren't racist and "race training" seems like pandering to the extremist section of the SJW group, who have good hearts, but don't know where to draw the line and who I feel actually hinder the rest of the movement who genuinely stand for equality of opportunity.

First stepping stone, again in my opinion, is free education. We need to give more black kids the opportunity to be college educated instead of just the ones who's parents have money (who statistically do just as well overall as wealthy white people).

Let's not focus on "white privilege, cultural appropriation", etc. We need to as a nation identify the real problems and fix them, not talk about all the window dressing "feels" stuff.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Imo, the reaction is fucking retarded.

Just fire the idiot that called the cops, use internal comms to warn if you're not going to treat all customers exactly the same, then you're gone. Job done.

Most people simply aren't racist and "race training" seems like pandering to the extremist section of the SJW group, who have good hearts, but don't know where to draw the line and who I feel actually hinder the rest of the movement who genuinely stand for equality of opportunity.

First stepping stone, again in my opinion, is free education. We need to give more black kids the opportunity to be college educated instead of just the ones who's parents have money (who statistically do just as well overall as wealthy white people).

Let's not focus on "white privilege, cultural appropriation", etc. We need to as a nation identify the real problems and fix them, not talk about all the window dressing "feels" stuff.
So tell me again which Republican it establishment Democratic politicians super free college education?

Oh yeah...

Score one for Bernie and the Progressive Movement.
 
Top