'No Black bucks for Starbucks': Protesters at Phoenix Starbucks call company racist

A small group of protesters made their way to several downtown Phoenix Starbucks locations Saturday afternoon, accusing the company of being racist and encouraging customers to spend their money elsewhere.

The protest was a response to the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks store last week.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson said they were in the store waiting for a potential business partner and were asked by a barista whether they wanted to order anything.

They declined and shortly thereafter, saw police officers entering the store. The officers eventually arrested them.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said the incident was not reflective of the brand's mission and values.

"I'll say the circumstances surrounding the incident and the outcome at our store on Thursday were reprehensible," he said. "They were wrong, and for that, I personally apologize to the gentlemen that visited our store."

A group of about seven protesters including local activist Jarrett Maupin, an organizer of the protest, gathered at the brand's location at First and Taylor streets on Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus.

They held up signs that read: "No Racism No Profiling," "#NotOneMoreSip," and "Tall, Grande, Venti, Trenta, Racism is Wrong in Every Size." They chanted similar phrases in a peaceful protest outside the store before entering the coffee shop.

"They're not the only company that's doing things like this but when they do...we have to make a sure example of it to keep it from happening again," said protester Katt Mckinney.

Mckinney said racial profiling of minority customers by large companies is a wide-spread issue that she hopes protests will mitigate.

"This has been going on for hundreds of years, it didn't just start the other day," Mckinney said.

MORE: ‘Putting out a fire’: Racial-bias experts say Starbucks training is only a start

'No Black bucks for Starbucks'

After about 10 minutes of protesting outside, the group of protesters made their way into the store and moved toward the counter, standing in front of it while continuing their chants and accusing Starbucks of racial profiling.

One protester asked an employee if the group would be allowed to use the restroom. The employee said that they could use the restroom if they needed to.

Chants of "No Black Bucks for Starbucks" and "Racism is Wrong in Every Size" continued for several minutes before Maupin began making statements about the Philadelphia incident and the company's decision to close for one afternoon next month for racial bias training.

After each of Maupin's statements, protesters would respond by saying: "One day is not enough."

Several protesters chimed in with their own complaints about the Philadelphia incident and the company at large. One man asking whether two white women would have been arrested if they had briefly lounged in the store or used the restroom without making a purchase.

Mckinney noted that there were no black employees working at that Starbucks location when they were inside.

"They encourage us to come here and have meetings and sit down and relax and read the paper and do those things, but it's obvious after that phone call (the 911 call released of the Philadelphia incident) they don't want black people doing that in their establishment," Mckinney said.

Maupin said they would continue to boycott the chain until Starbucks "gets it right."

"We're not ordering a damn thing," Maupin said. "I want a venti cup of conscience, and they can't serve it. They don't serve conscience, they don't serve character, they don't serve morals."

He said that racial incidents could be lessened if Starbucks had more diversity in its management and leadership.

"I would prefer the structure of Starbucks as a company look like America," Maupin said. "Right now they don't. They look like a (Klu Klux) Klan rally."

Protesters scoffed at reporters' questions over why they chose to target the ASU Starbucks. They said they planned to protest other sites.

They said that white Starbucks customers could ignore the company's actions because they weren't profiled based on their race or ethnicity. And they told a black Fox 10 reporter that she only had a job at that company because of past boycotts of Fox.

Last year, 11 Fox News employees filed a class-action lawsuit in New York, accusing the company of “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination.”

Is a single day for racial-bias training enough?

After about 25 minutes in the store, the protesters made their way to another Starbucks location within the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix.

They entered the store with their signs. Amid the heat, Mckinney asked a barista for bottles of water, which the employee provided to them for free.

Mckinney asked the baristas whether they had any black co-workers, and the women responded that they did, though they didn't have shifts that day.

Besides a few interactions with baristas, the protesters weren't nearly as vocal as they were in the bustling ASU downtown location.

After about 10 minutes, the protesters left again in search of another Starbucks to voice their message, saying they wouldn't stop until what they see as racial injustices within the company are resolved.

OPINION: Starbucks serves America a Venti size of diversity dialogue

The company is scheduled to close all of its locations on the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias training.

ASU professor Neal Lester — who for years has provided implicit-bias training to businesses, community groups and educators — said the company's plan to work on unconscious bias is "admirable" and "certainly a place to start."

In an interview earlier this week with The Arizona Republic, Lester echoed protesters' concerns. He said that lasting change will not occur in a single training day, adding that Starbucks is "putting out a fire and not addressing what caused the fire."

Lester said the May training session should look not only at the treatment customers receive from employees, but also review whether the company's policies could promote bias.

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Reporter Maria Polletta contributed to this story