PHILADELPHIA (AP) — About two dozen chanting protesters took over a Philadelphia Starbucks on Monday, days after two black men were arrested there when store employees called 911 to say they were trespassing.
“We don’t want this Starbucks to make any money today. That’s our goal,” said Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, one of the protest’s organizers and co-founder of the Black and Brown Workers Collective.
The protesters gathered outside the store in the pouring rain before 7 a.m., while inside it looked like business as usual. However, most people drinking coffee at the tables were regional leaders for the company’s corporate side.
Just before 7:30 a.m., the protesters moved inside and stood in front of the counter, some holding banners reading “End Stop and Frisk,” chanting slogans like, “A whole lot of racism, a whole lot of crap, Starbucks coffee is anti-black.”
Speeches decried police brutality and gentrification.
Starbucks regional vice president Camille Hymes attempted to talk to the protesters, but was shouted down.
Over the weekend, demonstrators called for the firing of the employee who contacted police, who arrested the men on Thursday.
Officials have said police officers were told the men had asked to use the store’s restroom but were denied because they hadn’t bought anything and they refused to leave.
Police haven’t released the names of the men who were arrested and later released after the district attorney’s office said there was lack of evidence that a crime had been committed.
On Monday’s “Good Morning America,” on ABC, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson reiterated that the arrests were “reprehensible” and said he hoped to meet with the men to discuss “a constructive solution.”
It’s the knee-jerk response of calling 911 that really sets this apart. The multiple accounts of this incident seem lacking in relevant details – like whether the two told the manager that they were waiting to meet someone. By the time the police arrived, the person they were waiting for had shown up and was irate that they were being arrested. And why did the police arrest them instead of just telling them to move along? Not a good look for Starbucks or the Philadelphia police, which has a long history of bullying African Americans, going back to when the former Philly police chief, Rizzo, became mayor and basically unleashed police on minority neighborhoods, culminating in the first MOVE incident. A friend who was a student at the University of Pennsylvania told me at the time that they were much more afraid of the police than they were of the MOVE family.
This looks so good in the foreign press. Includes video:
That and the clearing the space around them and handcuffing them, arresting them, apparently keeping them in jail until 1:30am, in spite of witnesses arguing that they were not bothering anyone, in spite of their explanation for being there verified when the guy they were meeting showed up in the middle of this. Well maybe that’s not unusual.
None of that could have happened without Starbucks manager giving them the ok, even if it were a customer who called 911.
Notice the police arrested them when they politely asked why they were being asked to leave, but the white guy vehemently arguing with the cops on the video doesn’t even get a rebuke. In a sane world, by the way, even if it had been a stupid customer making the emergency call, it would have been the manager arguing in their behalf.
Hopefully Black people traveling here from abroad are realizing being Black is a criminal offense in the US and take the proper course of action to protect themselves.
I’ve gone to places and asked to use the restroom, I was told it was for paying customers only. I then bought something so I could use the bathroom. I’ve also seen people being drunk and belligerent outside of nightclubs and police just telling them to “move along” and not handcuffed and arrested.
I’ve never heard of a place calling the police for that. Since these guys were awaiting a friend to consummate a real estate deal, I’m pretty sure they could have purchased a $3 dollar frap.