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Last updated on Wednesday, April 18, 2018
(UNDATED) - Starbucks apologized after two African-American men are arrested at one of its Philadelphia locations. The arrest, which was captured on video that has since gone viral, sparked accusations of discrimination and racial profiling.
Starbucks says it will close its 8,000 company-owned stores in the United States for one afternoon to educate employees about racial bias.
The announcement follows an uproar over the arrest of two black men who were waiting for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks last week. The store manager called the police.
The racial bias training will be provided on May 29 to about 175,000 workers.
"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."
Starbucks says the training will be developed with guidance from experts including former Attorney General Eric Holder.
Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, will also help design the program, as will executives from the Equal Justice Initiative and Demos, the progressive think tank.
The experts will also review the effectiveness of the training, Starbucks said.
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