Video Shows Alleged Racial Discrimination At Calif. Starbucks

REDONDO BEACH, CA – Just days after two black men were arrested while waiting at a Philadelphia Starbucks, a video taken at a Torrance, Calif. coffee shop shows racial bias may be a company-wide problem.

A video of the incident, which was posted in January, shows a black man claiming he was denied bathroom access before making a purchase, while a white man was given the entry code although he wasn't a paying customer either. The video emerged amid outrage over the recent Philadelphia arrests, which protestors said illustrated racial disparities that still exist in the country, Washington Post reported.

Chief Executive Kevin Johnson personally apologized to the men involved and announced the closure of more than 8,000 Starbucks stores in May so that nearly 175,000 employees could receive "racial bias training."

ABC7 identified the videographer as 26-year-old Brandon Ward, who told the news station he was waiting for his friend to pick him up from the location. He became upset after a white man walked in, asked for the restroom code and was granted it right after he was denied. Ward confronted the Starbucks employee, as seen in the video, and was ushered out by a security guard.

"Is it my skin color?" Ward asked the employee. "Is it my skin color?"

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A Starbucks spokeswoman sent a statement to the Washignton Post, in which she said the company takes the video of the Torrance incident “and the commentary surrounding it” seriously.

“[We] are working closely with the team to learn from our mistakes,” she told Washington Post. “We are fully investigating our store practices and guidelines across the company. In addition to our own review we will work with outside experts and community leaders to understand and adopt best practices, including unconscious bias training.”

Main image via Patch staffer David Allen