(04-25-2018, 10:29 AM)pirkster Wrote:

(04-22-2018, 11:34 AM)Achilles Wrote: Can we prove it was racism? No

Is it probable? Yes

The bigger issue is that this card is played to sweep any misbehavior (any level, large or small) completely under the rug.

Instead of there being wrong on both sides, it' magically becomes one sided with the play of a single card.

I agree that this can often be the case.  However, what wrongdoing was there on the part of the two men, especially since multiple white customers have claimed that they've been allowed to use the restroom without making a purchase with no issue?  By all accounts, the two men were respectful and calm.

Starbucks has created an environment where it's a hub for meetings and hangouts.  There are plenty of times I've been to one and spent zero dollars, using the restroom when I please.

Race remains a very complicated issue in this country, as it does in any place where one race literally owned another and treated them as subhuman for hundreds of years, and there exist many unconscious biases on both sides.  We're not far removed from "separate but equal" and Jim Crow.  The cry from white people seems to be "get over it" in many cases, and I think that it's been swept under the rug for a good long while, which is probably why these issues are beginning to resurface.  Just my .02, for what it's worth.

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