Starbucks arrests in Philly: Two settle for $200K pledge from city for fund
FBN’s Trish Regan on why she supports Starbuck’s response regarding the controversy in which two black men were arrested in one of its coffee shops in Philadelphia.
The two black men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks reached a settlement with city officials on Wednesday that will result in the creation of a $200,000 fund for the area’s young entrepreneurs, The Associated Press reported.
Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson will each receive a symbolic $1 from the city of Philadelphia for the incident. The city’s $200,000 pledge will fund a program aimed for students at Philadelphia’s public high schools.
"I am pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner," Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. "This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city and put us under a national spotlight for unwanted reasons." Starbucks said in a press release that company officials reached a “financial settlement as well as continued listening and dialogue between the parties and specific action and opportunity” with the two men.
It is unclear if Starbucks’ financial settlement with the two men includes funding for the entrepreneur program. A Starbucks representative did not immediately respond to a request for clarification, but the chain said in the press release that further details “will be provided in a mutually agreed public statement.”
Philadelphia police arrested Robinson and Nelson on April 12 after a Starbucks manager accused the two men of trespassing at the store location. Starbucks later apologized for the incident. The Seattle-based coffeehouse chain will shutter all of its more than 8,000 U.S. stores for part of the day on May 29 so employees can undergo unconscious-bias training.
"We thought long and hard about it, and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see," Robinson told the AP. "It's not a right-now thing that's good for right now, but I feel like we will see the true change over time."
Aside from the pledge from city officials, the incident will be removed from Robinson’s and Nelson’s records.
“I want to thank Donte and Rashon for their willingness to reconcile,” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement. “I welcome the opportunity to begin a relationship with them to share learnings and experiences. And Starbucks will continue to take actions that stem from this incident to repair and reaffirm our values and vision for the kind of company we want to be.”