What’s The Catch?
Well, the men made officials promise to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs, instead of them taking the money.
If you weren’t aware of this story, two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks for trespassing after they were asked to leave since they didn’t order anything. After a few hours in jail, they were released and no charges were filed.
The Guardian reports, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney outlined the agreement to the Associated Press.
“I am pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner. This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city and put us under a national spotlight for unwanted reasons.”
The men said they were waiting at the coffee shop for a business meeting with a third man about a potential real estate opportunity.
The mayor said Nelson and Robinson approached the city about working together to make something positive come out of the situation. The entrepreneur program will be for Philadelphia public high school students.
“We thought long and hard about it and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see. It’s not a right-now thing that’s good for right now, but I feel like we will see the true change over time.”
During the uproar, the Starbucks chief executive Kevin Johnson came to Philadelphia to apologize to the men, and later announced that more than 8,000 Starbucks stores will close U.S. stores on May 29 for racial-bias training
The company, according to Bloomberg, said the men will also be given the opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degrees, their tuition fully covered, through a Starbucks partnership with Arizona State University. The online college education program was created in 2014 for Starbucks employees.
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