The Starbucks store happens to be the same place where last year two African-American men were arrested and handcuffed for sitting peacefully inside the store and waiting to order later.
Muslim man had ‘ISIS’ written as his name on drink at Starbucks in Philadelphia
The Starbucks store happens to be the same place where last year two African-American men were arrested and handcuffed for sitting peacefully inside the store and waiting to order later.
Niquel Johnson, 40, was ordering his drink at Starbucks last Sunday and gave his Islamic name, Aziz, as he paid for his coffee and the coffee of two of his friends. Johnson happened to be wearing a thobe, or typical Islamic dress as he walked into the store.
He then claims that when the barista called out the order, this time unusually by the drink type and not his name, he noticed later that the barista had written “ISIS” as his name on the cup, short for the Islamic State terrorist group. Johnson has stated that he has used his Islamic name Aziz for more than 25 years, and has specifically used that name at that Starbucks store countless of times.
I was shocked and angry. I felt it was discrimination.”
The Starbucks store happens to be the same place where last year two African-American men were arrested and handcuffed for sitting peacefully inside the store and waiting to order later. Because the incident gained widespread condemnation, Starbucks’ chief executive, Kevin Johnson, was forced to issue an apology and ordered more than 8,000 Starbucks stores closed for an afternoon for training. Around 175,000 employees were trained about the dangers of “unconscious bias”.
This time, with Johnson, he claims that Starbucks attempted to quietly settle the incident without properly addressing the issue. Four days after his story hit social media, Starbucks called Johnson, claiming they had already addressed and resolved the issue based off of a conversation with Johnson’s niece Alora. The issue was, Johnson does not have a niece named Alora.
Starbucks’ only statement as of now has been:
After investigating, we don’t believe this was a case of discrimination or profiling. The customer approached and provided the name Aziz. The barista mistakenly spelled it incorrectly. We have connected with Mr Johnson and apologized for this regrettable mistake.”
While the fake niece and phone call claim is still a mystery, Johnson is still waiting for the appropriate response from Starbucks. The identity of the barista is still not public, and Starbucks has of yet still not addressed why they claimed to have spoken to a non-existent niece of Johnson’s.
