It’s kind of nice that the third largest multinational restaurant chain in the world (after Subway and McDonald’s, respectively) is taking this so seriously and actually attempting to do the right thing.
That said, I’m still disappointed it hasn’t announced that the gentlemen who were arrested will receive free Starbucks for the rest of their lives, along with a substantial cash settlement (without need of a lawsuit) for suffering this unforgivable indignity.
Hell, perhaps Starbucks should offer both men jobs. They are both reportedly in real estate and could assist Starbucks in siting and opening another billion restaurants.
You know what they did offer? Free wifi for life. 
Well, it may be a case of “first things first”. First prevent it from happening again, then compensate the folks who were injured.
Can we just close the country for racial-bias education on May 29th?
It hasn’t been widely reported but they were also denied the bathroom code until they bought something. So maybe they could throw in the manager’s bathroom code as well.
As it turns out, refusing blacks the bathroom code before ordering may be more common than anyone would think.
If they want to pay me a nice five-figure sum as a consultant, I’ll solve their problem for them. “Hey staff! It’s OK to sit while black! Don’t call the cops about it!” There. Problem solved.
Oof. There goes your fat fee. D’oh!
Story of my life. 
How many employees will use their itchy dialing fingers in the next seven weeks?
“Starbucks To Close 8K US Stores On May 29 To Conduct Racial-Bias Training.”
It’s a good and necessary start.
But I fear America will realize Dr. King’s dream only when snide, faux-hip, millennial baristas show contempt to clueless, upper-middle-class people of all colors while ripping them off for an overhyped, ten-dollar cup of joe.
Well, maybe something good will come of this. But I would hope that the CEO of Starbucks would try to prevail on the police department concerned to wipe the records of the two men who were arrested for being black in a Starbucks and nothing more. Arrests tend to follow one thru life and certainly can interfere with job prospects. Should these two men have occasion to get jobs needing a security background check or if they wish to buy a gun the arrests would make that difficult if not impossible.
The question remains…if the two men had been white would they have been arrested?
Love what you said about the arrest record.
Not convinced that any question remains.
At least the coffee at Starbucks isn’t the “Budweiser” type garbage coffee that I remember from my youth.
I posted that question because it’s been bugging me since I read the initial story about this incident.
But thanks for the support.
I think it would be a significant move for Starbucks to at least attempt to wipe their records. After all as I understand it the worst these to guys did was says they wanted to remain in the store to meet up with the guy they were waiting for. Starbucks promotes themselves as a sort of “public meeting place” after all. Had these guys bought a cup maybe they would not have been arrested. Considering the way interactions of black men and the police have been going lately they were lucky they didn’t end up dead.
“Starbucks To Close 8K US Stores”
You can terminate that title right there. Let a thousand local coffeeshops bloom.
I had heard that there is no record, as the charges were eventually dropped. No charges were filed.
I’ll have to do a search to see if that is true… I certainly hope it is. However I had read the men had been held for several hours after the arrest which in my mind makes it likely that there is a record.
The new DA chose to drop the charges. So, they will not have any records at all.
“I watched the video, which was hard to watch. That is not what Starbucks is about. That is not representative of our mission, our values and our guiding principles,”
No, those actions are representative of the values and guiding principles of how to treat Black People in the USA. In that regard, everything is totally consistent.