When the story broke that the police removed two young black men from a Philadelphia Starbucks, I decided to ignore it.  It was just the sort of misunderstanding that  happens often enough to be a non-news evident.  Well, the part where a proprietor says restrooms are for customers only and  asks a non-customer to leave happens fairly often.  Usually, the customer – actually, the non-customer – leaves when asked.  It is unusual for the police to be involved.  But still, not a big deal. 

Then Starbucks fired the manager of the store and announced a day of sensitivity training.  Nothing out of the ordinary here – it is an unusual day when Starbucks isn't engaged in some form of social sensitivity training.  The only interesting question that leaps to my mind is how a company in Washington State knows so much about race relations in the rest of the country.  Black Americans are 13.3% of the U.S. population.  They are 4.1% in Washington.  To be fair, Washington has almost as high a percentage as morally upright California and has twice the percentage of really upright Oregon.  How do the folks on the West Coast develop so much sensitivity from so little interpersonal experience? 

It's not really a shock that many members of the black community refused to honor Starbucks's contrition.  It is no surprise that this unjust discrimination will be monetized.  'The actions of the Starbucks corporation are totally unacceptable," Philadelphia councilman Kenyatta Johnson told protesters Sunday.  "We know they said they’re going to move forward and specifically focus on a training that deals with unconscious bias, but that’s a one-day training."  Johnson added that these young men should not have been the target of "racial profiling."

The lawyer for the young men announced that the company must do more and that there will be mediation between Starbucks and the aggrieved victims.  Wish I had thought of that during several similar adventures. 

At its heart, this is an opportunity to attack President Trump for similar past transgressions.  I'm writing to remind the world of a heartbreaking story: how the company owned by the man who is now  our president callously denied bathroom access.  This distressing story happened at Trump International Hotel in New York,  and it happened to a paying customer.  "'I asked them where the bathroom was and he said, 'Right this way, sir,'' ... 'Right this way, sir.'  He walked me outside, pointed down the road and said, 'Good luck.''  The man escorted to the exit was Jase Robertson from Duck Dynasty.  Jase called it a case of facial profiling. 

The event took place in 2013.  There were no demonstrations or talk of mediation.  In 2018, that would all be different.  Today, Jase would be fully briefed on all the benefits of his white privilege.