Starbucks Shut Down For Racial Bias Training

Bella Breakdown

Everyone loves their grande medium iced mocha latte no cream no whip extra sweetener (or some version of those words) as their morning wake-up drink. But after recent controversy, Starbucks is shutting down 8,000 stores in order to properly educate its employees in “racial bias training.”

No, not forever. Just for Tuesday afternoon training.

Around 1 or 2pm today, these 8,000 U.S. stores will be temporarily closed (hopefully for no more than 2-3 hours because I need that caffeine fix on my drive home.) But what’s more important than everyone piling in line to get those Frappuccinos is that all of the employee’s know how to properly handle and de-escalate situations within their stores.

Starbucks has been no stranger to the news lately, and unfortunately, it hasn’t been for their great-tasting beverages. On April 12th, two African-American’s were arrested when a Philadelphia Starbucks called the cops on them, while bystanders claimed they were “doing nothing” and the two men in question were simply waiting for a friend to show up.

Luckily, the company is being proactive in its strategies to avoid future conflicts from occurring. Despite the projected 12 million dollar loss that Starbucks will undergo for this shut down, hopefully, it will bring more awareness to the racial tensity occurring in America. The goal is to properly train employees in their ability to avoid racial stereotyping and discrimination.

Let us not forget that, even though they have amazing beverages, Starbucks has an even more amazing mission statement: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”

Hopefully, this training will be a great benefit to coffee-drinkers across the nation.