Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

When Starbucks closes for anti-bias training ‘it can’t be ignored’

  • Justice
  • by Clarice Silber and CTMirror Contributor
  • May 29, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

The Starbucks in downtown Hartford takes last orders before closing for anti-bias training Tuesday.

The Asylum Street Starbucks in Hartford was buzzing with orders Tuesday — right until 2:15 p.m. That’s when it became one of some 8,000 locations closed for mandatory anti-bias training.

For Joe Fortuna, a Morgan Stanley financial advisor waiting for his order, it was an important public statement.

“I think with an organization like Starbucks, it can’t be ignored, it’s a household name and it’s part of so many people’s lives that it gets the message across,” he said.

The coffee giant decided to initiate the nationwide shutdown and training after two black men were arrested while waiting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia last month. The incident, caught on video, prompted public backlash and a #BoycottStarbucks campaign on social media.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson later publicly apologized to the men and said in a statement “our practices and training led to a bad outcome — the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong.”

“And hopefully that’s a lesson to a lot of others, because we need that right now,” customer Fortuna said.

Certainly Connecticut has its share of racial bias, as Connecticut ACLU Executive Director David McGuire observed. The Philadelphia Starbucks incident was similar to a  recent incident at Yale in New Haven where a black graduate student who fell asleep in her dorm’s common room was reported to the police and questioned for more than 15 minutes.

“It highlights the need for everyone to examine their own bias —police and the public. It’s encouraging Starbucks is doing a training, We’re certainly a proponent of anti-bias training, but at the end of the day this is a much larger societal problem,” McGuire said.

Yale Psychology Professor John Dovidio said it’s unique that Starbucks is shutting down all its franchises to do the training, but changing habits that arise from implicit biases takes a lot of time.

“The psychology literature suggests an unconscious bias is a well-ingrained habit of the mind and it comes from growing up in a society with racist traditions and these associations get repeated over and over again,” Dovidio said. “But you can’t get rid of a habit just by understanding the habit better … you really have to do this in a kind of continuous way.”

These sessions are also effective if companies train people more specifically in what they do, and how to perform their tasks in an unbiased way, Dovidio added.

The company said the Tuesday session would set the foundation for a longer-term “anti-bias, diversity, equity and inclusion effort.” The training will “focus on understanding racial bias and the history of public accommodations in the United States,” and future sessions will address all aspects of bias and experiences, it added.

Advisers from the Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and other social advocacy groups helped form the program curriculum created for the company’s 175,000 employees.

Most of the coffee chain’s 7,000 licensed stores, like those operated by grocery stores, hotels, universities or airports, remained open.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clarice Silber

CTMirror Contributor

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Equity issues dominate hearing on Lamont’s marijuana bill
by Kelan Lyons and Mark Pazniokas

The administration's testimony took up the hearing's first five hours. More than 130 people are signed up to speak.

Three weeks into COVID-19 vaccinations, DOC has vaccinated 10% of inmates, 40% of staff
by Kelan Lyons

Fewer than 850 incarcerated people had been vaccinated as of Feb. 22.

Judiciary Committee hears testimony on changes to last summer’s police accountably bill
by Kelan Lyons

One police chief said they need more time to train officers on new use-of-force rules.

Price tag for state police at Capitol non-protest: $125,000
by Dave Altimari

The National Guard also spent $122,000 in overtime to protect the Capitol and other buildings during that week.

Lamont to nominate diverse first class of trial judges
by Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont is naming Robert Clark as an appellate judge and eight women and seven men as trial judges.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Fitness is part of Connecticut’s COVID solution
by David Humphrey

Based on what we now know about infection rates and transmission, it is more apparent than ever before that gyms, fitness centers, and the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are essential to help our state get through the months ahead.

Opinion Connecticut can’t afford state government-run health insurance
by Mike Licamele

As much as I support strengthening and improving healthcare, I do not believe SB 842 is the way to do that. Instead of trying to force Connecticut residents into a new, government-controlled healthcare system, lawmakers should focus on improving our existing one by building on what’s working and continuing to address lowering costs, not raising taxes

Opinion Disabled, marginalized, stalled and walled
by Doris Maldonado

As a bilingual health information specialist for PATH P2P Family Voices CT and National Family Voices Cultural Responsiveness Telehealth Team, I offer more than professional expertise as well as despair for the marginalized within marginalized communities. I am a Latina with disabilities, adoptive mother of 17-year-old twins with special needs and a thriving toddler.

Opinion The marijuana legalization debate must be based on facts
by Will Jones III

In response to my earlier piece on why Connecticut lawmakers should reject marijuana commercialization,  Brendan Ruberry wrote a rebuttal that, on its face seems scathing, but to be clear, the attempted rebuttal falls flat and well off the mark.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO