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Starbucks Is The New Battle Ground For Social Change: Philadelphia Coffee House Illuminates Jim Crow White Space Culture

I believe it was just a few years before my father past away when he told me not to get involved with women who call the police on you. Our parents raised four boys and much of the life lessons we were taught were predicated on character, respect, and it was a major taboo if we ever caught putting our hands on a female. My dad’s issue was that some black woman will call the police out of anger, emotions, and in an effort to be vindictive without you having to do anything at all. Having come up in the heart of the civil rights movement, our parents were all too familiar with police culture and how the criminal justice system treated black people. In short, dad’s argument was that the police are bad business, nothing good happens when black men in particular encounter police, and all it takes is for a person to make an accusation against you, especially from a woman and you’ve already been convicted on sight.

The police relationship with the black community has never been exactly cordial, and for the most part the relationship has only been very tenuous at best. In fact the police has always seemingly served as an invigilator over the black community to keep our people in check. oppressed, and in our proper subservient place. The existence of an obvious fear of blacks by white people have a long history, stemming from myths of violent retribution from a black insurrection that is believed to have been promoted by those in power, to flame racial strife between the races, and also caused massive white flight from large metropolitan cities after the fall of Jim Crow and segregation in this country. The separatist who create such fear of blacks are also the architects of an abhorrent tactic of terror within their own white communities which depict the black man meting out his ultimate desire to conquer the white man’s greatest prize, the white woman. This is a myth that has spread pervasive fear in whites for centuries.

Therefor, much like the times of slavery, the police serve as overseers of black people to protect the white establishment, and there are racist whites who have been using police as an agent to further exploit their bigotry and race hate. Its no secret and an unspoken rule within the black community that when white people call the police on blacks for non crime related matters, it sends a message that a black person has gotten out of their place and need to be corralled back in. Now, with the volume of police shootings of unarmed black men whose encounters with the police in many instances are typically very minor, some black leaders are arguing that having the police called on a black man by a white person in this era means that you must die. Now some people might think that’s an exaggeration, but the spike in racial outburst by whites in places typically known to be white spaces is a clear indicator that a visceral hatred of black people continues to persist in this country. Some will argue that its all due to who our 45th President is, but I disagree. The manner in which people have become so emboldened in spewing racial epithets in public only exemplifies a perpetuation of bigotry that already existed. The 45th President just gave many of these cowardice racist a platform to spew their venom.

The incident that happened in a Philadelphia Starbucks coffee shop the other day where two black men who asked to use the restroom were denied access, were told that only paying customers are permitted to use the facilities (ignoring the fact that they may actually be paying customers), and when the men sat down to wait on a friend for a business meeting, a manager called the police on them for trespassing, probably with the belief that they possibly couldn’t afford to buy Starbucks items. The men were subsequently handcuffed and carted off to jail. While they would eventually be set free nine hours later due to Starbucks declining to pursue criminal charges, the incident isn’t isolated to a Center City Philly coffee house. In Southern California at another Starbucks a young black man name Brandon Ward asked a Starbucks employee why he was denied access to the store’s restroom when a white customer was granted access. Ward posted a video capturing a white customer exiting the restroom, and his interaction with the young white male, and learning that he wasn’t precluded from using the restroom without making a purchase.

The revelation of the California video creates a very slippery slope for the Coffee magnet, as the employee who identified herself as the store manager was also captured on the video retrieving the police to have Mr. Ward dealt with, who was the customer she told to leave the store when he began filming her response to his inquiries regarding the unfairness of the establishment’s restroom policy. However, as the company’s CEO tried to do damage control over the incidents due to the outpouring of support for the two black men with protest, the public outcry has seemingly developed into a prima facie case of implicit bias toward blacks that can now be lodged against the Starbucks company as a whole. The same kind of behavior over the use of restroom facilities in two company stores thousands of miles apart doesn’t take rocket science to ascertain that racial profiling by Starbucks employees appears to be a culture of racism that permeates the coffee chain from coast to coast.

It also should be highlighted that in both incidents neither of the black males became loud, belligerent, violent or displayed any aggression what so ever, but had the police notified on them solely for their refusal to comply with an agent of any white establishment who ordered them back in their place where a black person should be. It speaks volumes of how this country is so programed with a public policy for difficult black people, for black people who make a white person feel uncomfortable, threatened, and otherwise invade spaces overtly veiled for patrons of white privilege. Also its interesting to note that the employee involved in the Southern California Starbucks incident appeared to be non white, but was expediently and defiantly prepared to handle Brandon Ward indifferently as a man of color without provocation for no reason other than for implicit bias and racism. It all captivates a prescribed methodology orchestrator for handling black people who get beside themselves, which gives further credence to the belief that when a white person calls the cops of a black man, you just might die today.

In many of the incidents involving police having been notified about a black person for literally no crime at all, in many of these instances, a white person used the cops as their personal racism valets. In fact, every year, there are cases where white Americans actively and knowingly use the police as an extension of their personal bigotry yet face no consequences. The men and women making these outrageous and unwarranted calls to police, which result in the harassment, unfair prosecution and even death of people of color, need to be found, publicly shamed and prosecuted to the full extent that the law allows. Meanwhile, the black community as a whole must develop better strategies for dealing with racism in this country, and for the life of us (literally) we must adopt a public policy on police when they encounter us within this racist American society.

 

The People’s Champion

I’m Crime Writer David B. Adams

 

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInGoogle Plus

I believe it was just a few years before my father past away when he told me not to get involved with women who call the police on you. Our parents raised four boys and much of the life lessons we were taught were predicated on character, respect, and it was a major taboo if we ever caught putting our hands on a female. My dad’s issue was that some black woman will call the police out of anger, emotions, and in an effort to be vindictive without you having to do anything at all. Having come up in the heart of the civil rights movement, our parents were all too familiar with police culture and how the criminal justice system treated black people. In short, dad’s argument was that the police are bad business, nothing good happens when black men in particular encounter police, and all it takes is for a person to make an accusation against you, especially from a woman and you’ve already been convicted on sight.

The police relationship with the black community has never been exactly cordial, and for the most part the relationship has only been very tenuous at best. In fact the police has always seemingly served as an invigilator over the black community to keep our people in check. oppressed, and in our proper subservient place. The existence of an obvious fear of blacks by white people have a long history, stemming from myths of violent retribution from a black insurrection that is believed to have been promoted by those in power, to flame racial strife between the races, and also caused massive white flight from large metropolitan cities after the fall of Jim Crow and segregation in this country. The separatist who create such fear of blacks are also the architects of an abhorrent tactic of terror within their own white communities which depict the black man meting out his ultimate desire to conquer the white man’s greatest prize, the white woman. This is a myth that has spread pervasive fear in whites for centuries.

Therefor, much like the times of slavery, the police serve as overseers of black people to protect the white establishment, and there are racist whites who have been using police as an agent to further exploit their bigotry and race hate. Its no secret and an unspoken rule within the black community that when white people call the police on blacks for non crime related matters, it sends a message that a black person has gotten out of their place and need to be corralled back in. Now, with the volume of police shootings of unarmed black men whose encounters with the police in many instances are typically very minor, some black leaders are arguing that having the police called on a black man by a white person in this era means that you must die. Now some people might think that’s an exaggeration, but the spike in racial outburst by whites in places typically known to be white spaces is a clear indicator that a visceral hatred of black people continues to persist in this country. Some will argue that its all due to who our 45th President is, but I disagree. The manner in which people have become so emboldened in spewing racial epithets in public only exemplifies a perpetuation of bigotry that already existed. The 45th President just gave many of these cowardice racist a platform to spew their venom.

The incident that happened in a Philadelphia Starbucks coffee shop the other day where two black men who asked to use the restroom were denied access, were told that only paying customers are permitted to use the facilities (ignoring the fact that they may actually be paying customers), and when the men sat down to wait on a friend for a business meeting, a manager called the police on them for trespassing, probably with the belief that they possibly couldn’t afford to buy Starbucks items. The men were subsequently handcuffed and carted off to jail. While they would eventually be set free nine hours later due to Starbucks declining to pursue criminal charges, the incident isn’t isolated to a Center City Philly coffee house. In Southern California at another Starbucks a young black man name Brandon Ward asked a Starbucks employee why he was denied access to the store’s restroom when a white customer was granted access. Ward posted a video capturing a white customer exiting the restroom, and his interaction with the young white male, and learning that he wasn’t precluded from using the restroom without making a purchase.

The revelation of the California video creates a very slippery slope for the Coffee magnet, as the employee who identified herself as the store manager was also captured on the video retrieving the police to have Mr. Ward dealt with, who was the customer she told to leave the store when he began filming her response to his inquiries regarding the unfairness of the establishment’s restroom policy. However, as the company’s CEO tried to do damage control over the incidents due to the outpouring of support for the two black men with protest, the public outcry has seemingly developed into a prima facie case of implicit bias toward blacks that can now be lodged against the Starbucks company as a whole. The same kind of behavior over the use of restroom facilities in two company stores thousands of miles apart doesn’t take rocket science to ascertain that racial profiling by Starbucks employees appears to be a culture of racism that permeates the coffee chain from coast to coast.

It also should be highlighted that in both incidents neither of the black males became loud, belligerent, violent or displayed any aggression what so ever, but had the police notified on them solely for their refusal to comply with an agent of any white establishment who ordered them back in their place where a black person should be. It speaks volumes of how this country is so programed with a public policy for difficult black people, for black people who make a white person feel uncomfortable, threatened, and otherwise invade spaces overtly veiled for patrons of white privilege. Also its interesting to note that the employee involved in the Southern California Starbucks incident appeared to be non white, but was expediently and defiantly prepared to handle Brandon Ward indifferently as a man of color without provocation for no reason other than for implicit bias and racism. It all captivates a prescribed methodology orchestrator for handling black people who get beside themselves, which gives further credence to the belief that when a white person calls the cops of a black man, you just might die today.

In many of the incidents involving police having been notified about a black person for literally no crime at all, in many of these instances, a white person used the cops as their personal racism valets. In fact, every year, there are cases where white Americans actively and knowingly use the police as an extension of their personal bigotry yet face no consequences. The men and women making these outrageous and unwarranted calls to police, which result in the harassment, unfair prosecution and even death of people of color, need to be found, publicly shamed and prosecuted to the full extent that the law allows. Meanwhile, the black community as a whole must develop better strategies for dealing with racism in this country, and for the life of us (literally) we must adopt a public policy on police when they encounter us within this racist American society.

 

The People’s Champion

I’m Crime Writer David B. Adams

 

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInGoogle Plus

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