Being presumed innocent isn’t a luxury we all enjoy
Apr 23, 2018, 6:03 AM
Demonstrators occupy the Starbucks that has become the center of protests in Philadelphia. Starbucks wants to add training for store managers on "unconscious bias," CEO Kevin Johnson said Monday, as activists held more protests at a Philadelphia store where two black men were arrested after employees said they were trespassing. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
(AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
I got a note from a listener about the two black men who were escorted out of the Philadelphia Starbucks by police after asking to use the bathroom, and not buying anything.
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The note read: “Ever been in a bathroom after a homeless person has used it?” he wrote.
And then he criticized the media coverage.
“Its pretty clear ONE person made a bad call. But because a black male was involved the media wants it to be WW3 …”
Well, it is true Starbucks has become the go-to stop for homeless people in some neighborhoods. And I can see how managers might feel the need to profile potential customers based on how they look.
The problem is that those of us who always pass the profiling think that because we get the restroom key every time, there’s no problem here. As I was pondering this, I saw that my wife, who was meeting up with a friend at a Starbucks, had left me a message.
“Hi,” she said. “I actually met up with Jackie so you don’t need to worry about that. And, surprisingly enough, we’re sitting in Starbucks where she’s going to the bathroom and we haven’t ordered anything. But we look very innocent.”
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I heard that and I thought, maybe the take away here is to leave ourselves a little message every time we get away with something that got somebody else in trouble. Just to remind ourselves how precious it is to be presumed innocent.
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