Starbucks’ ‘Full-Scale Racial Equity Overhaul’ Will Take More Than an Afternoon, Outside Review Says

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In a report published Monday, Heather McGhee, distinguished senior fellow of the public policy organization Demos, and Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-council of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, outlined how Starbucks and other companies could achieve a “full-scale racial equity overhaul.” While McGhee and Ifill served as pro bono advisers on Starbucks’s May 29 training, they conducted the report independently and in consultation with dozens of organizations and experts, from racial and religious groups to legal and policy centers.

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McGhee and Ifill wrote that in the weeks leading up to the training, Starbucks would have to – and did – make clear to employees that the May 29 training marked the start of a long-term, companywide commitment to diversity and inclusion. Moreover, McGhee and Ifill wrote that the April arrests of Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson had to be framed within the broader context of the historical discrimination against black people in public spaces.

The report also acknowledged swift changes to Starbucks’s policy in the wake of the arrests in Philadelphia, including that customers didn’t have to make a purchase to sit in stores or use the restroom, as well as new guidelines for when employees should call 911. Starbucks also announced 12 additional months of training for managers and employees.

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McGhee told the Washington Post that other incidents at Starbucks stores, including an anti-Latino slur written on a customer’s cup, “in some ways provided enough evidence that there was a problem.”

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Asked specifically about Starbucks’s pace in crafting future trainings, Alisha Damodaran, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, {snip} said the content for future training is being designed with input from experts and feedback from employees after May 29.

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The report laid out a detailed series of recommendations for Starbucks’s long-term initiatives, including a broad civil rights audit of company policies and practices, from racial diversity at all staff levels to contractors throughout the supply chain. The report also included recommendations from Nelson and Robinson to, among other steps, create a customer bill of rights that would be posted at the entrance of all stores.

McGhee and Ifill called on Starbucks to apply its “third place” policy to communities nationwide, including by considering the effects stores have on gentrification and policing. The report noted a 2015 Zillow study that found that Starbucks stores contributed to an increase in local home prices. The report also tied gentrification and displacement to how police respond to changing neighborhood demographics, especially in communities of color.

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Also on Monday, Starbucks published a press release on lessons from the May 29 training and what is still to come. The release said that the first of the new monthly trainings will debut later this summer and focus on understanding the effects of discrimination and making decisions to confront bias. Stores will not close for future training, but employees will be encouraged and expected to complete them. Six of the training sessions will target managers and above, and six will apply to all employees.

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