Unless you have the self-discipline to ignore things on the news that are utterly un-newsworthy, you have probably heard that a couple of men were arrested by police officers for trespassing in a Starbucks in the city of brotherly love. Apparently, two gentlemen sat at the coffee place for a while then asked for access to the bathroom. Since they hadn’t purchased anything, the manager did not allow them to use the restroom and asked them to leave. When they did not leave the manager made a 911 call to ask the police to handle the matter. Now, let’s see how much you know about all that.
Q 1 The management is racist because non-minority persons are allowed to hang out without buying anything but these guys were black so no way was that going to be allowed.
A. True
B. False
C. Doesn’t matter to the responding officers since they got a call, had a witness, attempted to resolve the matter without an arrest, and had probable cause to believe a violation had been committed.
Answer: C . For those of you who wished that there was a “D” choice, this is what it would have said : D. The officers should have called the CEO of the company and asked for a change in policy that would allow a person, regardless of race, color, or creed, to hang out at Starbucks like it was their living room for an indeterminate amount of time. If that had been an option on this multiple choice question, the answer would still have been C.
Q 2 A common cultural courtesy when sitting in a business is to:
A. Keep looking at your watch to signal that you’re waiting for somebody
B. Buy a pack of gum or something cheap as a good faith gesture
C. Doesn’t matter to the responding officers since they got a call, had a witness, attempted to resolve the matter without an arrest, and had probable cause to believe a violation had been committed.
D. Make yourself at home and make sure to take some napkins and sugar packets while you’re there
Answer: Yup, still C.
Q 3 Upon hearing of the incident, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross:
A. Immediately appointed a task force made up of one ACLU attorney, one Black Lives Matter member, and a federal judge to investigate why officers are responding to 911 calls involving minorities
B. Placed the officers on unpaid leave until the investigation into the matter could be delayed long enough for the media to forget it ever happened
C. Made a statement on social media explaining that the officers did nothing wrong
D. Implemented a policy prohibiting officers from drinking coffee with cream or sugar in it
Answer: Aha! Trick question! The answer is C. Support of line officers by an administration in politically charged environments does seem to be the exception to the rule, but Commissioner Ross decided to take the unique course of sticking with the facts and the law.
Q 4 In what ways did Starbucks back-pedal to keep its customers?
A. Apologized for allowing its manager to follow its policy
B. Denied the tweets that compared this incident to the Woolworth lunch
counter arrests of the 1950s
C. Doesn’t matter to the responding officers since they got a call, had a witness, attempted to resolve the matter without an arrest, and had probable cause to believe a violation had been committed.
D. Passively took a verbal beating from Philadelphia’s mayor, who accused them of racism
Answer: Again, for our purposes, the answer is C – although I would score “all of the above” as correct.
Commissioner Ross is quoted as saying “These officers had legal standing to make this arrest. These officers did absolutely nothing wrong. They followed policy, they did what they were supposed to do, they were professional in all their dealings with these gentlemen — and instead, they got the opposite back. I will say that as an African-American male, I am very aware of implicit bias. We are committed to fair and unbiased policing, and anything less than that will not be tolerated in this department.”
Commissioner, I will be sending you a personal note of congratulations. And it will include my usual appreciation gift – a Starbucks gift card. Just make sure and order quickly when you do go in.
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