THE STARBUCKS LESSON: PART II

Starbucks, which has no problem promoting its social values to customers, is getting another lesson in the unfairness of an isolated incident being projected to an entire company.

Excerpted from Katherine Rodriguez’s article at breitbart.com:

Starbucks has been accused of racism yet again after a Latino customer at a Los Angeles area store found a racial slur scribbled on his cup.

The man, who would only be identified as Peter, told CBS Los Angeles he received a drink with the word “BEANER” on it at the Starbucks in La Cañada, California.

“En español es ‘frijoleros,’ ‘beaner,’ you know, in English,” said the victim’s friend Miguel Acosta. “He went to Starbucks, and they asked for his name, and his name is ‘Peter,’ and they wrote this ‘beaner,’ And he’s saying that’s not fair.”

Acosta added that he does not understand why Starbucks targeted his friend and believed his friend did not deserve to be treated that way.

The store manager declined to give a statement, but the coffee company released a statement saying it has “apologized to the customer.”

“This is not indicative of the type of experience we want our customers to have when they walk into our stores. We have apologized to the customer directly and are working to make things right,” Starbucks announced in a statement.

To remind you:  this comes on the heels of two Black men sitting in a Pennsylvania Starbucks being told they could not use the bathroom because they had not ordered anything, then being told to leave – and having the police called to arrest them.

Does this mean that Starbucks is a racist organization, which discriminates against Blacks and Latinos?

Of course not.  One or two isolated incidents does not bespeak company policy.

But how many times have one or two incidents been used to condemn individuals and organizations in the past?

The unfairness of such condemnations is something for people to think about – especially the often sanctimonious, holier-than-thou folks at Starbucks.