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Starbucks billed Tuesday’s training as “one step†in addressing racial bias, and national reports have called the company’s move an “important start.†But for two Philadelphia Starbucks employees I talked to, the training merely “targeted†people of color and exacerbated racial tensions.
I spoke with the baristas separately on Tuesday evening after they attended the training at a Sheraton hotel with employees from about four districts in the region. Between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., they had sat with fellow employees listening to a few presentations, watching a number of videos, journaling, and occasionally talking to colleagues and session leaders in small self-guided groups.