Starbucks Unresponsive in Racial Discrimination Charge

A New York City woman recently entered a Manhattan Starbucks with the intention of sipping tea and working on a project. However, soon after arriving at the coffee shop a minor dispute with another customer ensued leading to her ultimate eviction from the store. She was banned from that particular Starbucks and also received a police summons to appear in court. The other party in the dispute was not evicted or banned from the store nor did they receive a summons. According to the woman, when Starbucks personnel got involved, they did not want to hear anything she had to say and treated her as if she was a trouble maker. She says instead of neutralizing a situation, Starbucks exacerbated it. The woman believes that they were biased and one-sided in how they handled the incident. She also believes that it was because of her race and gender that Starbucks employees acted so inappropriately. In addition, she believes this "banning" policy is widespread across the company and discriminatory in nature. The woman is African-American and a Harvard graduate with no criminal record. Following the February 10, 2009 incident, she fired off letters of complaint to Starbucks, the New York State Department of Human Rights and the New York U.S. Attorney General's office among others. The woman has had responses from the latter two agencies, however, she still has not received any response from Starbucks. Nevertheless, the woman is proceeding with her complaints and considering legal action for discriminatory practices. For more information, contact starbucksbias@gmail.com


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