Starbucks Arrests, Outrageous to Some, Are Everyday Life for Others

Source: New York Times

Starbucks Arrests, Outrageous to Some, Are Everyday Life for Others

By ELIZABETH DIAS, JOHN ELIGON and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. APRIL 17, 2018

PHILADELPHIA — The video of the police arresting two black men in a Starbucks, viewed more than 10 million times online, quickly prompted a full-blown crisis: accusations of racism, protests both in and around the cafe, and a corporate apology on “Good Morning America.”

But to some black Philadelphia residents who venture into Rittenhouse Square, the neighborhood where it happened, the treatment depicted in the video was a frustrating reality of everyday life.

Christian Hayden, 30, recalled a security guard searching his bags as he left a nearby Barnes & Noble. The guard found his copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir “The Beautiful Struggle,” and would not let him leave until the staff had checked the shelves to make sure no copy had been stolen.

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In fact, statistics show that Rittenhouse Square, with its hotels, boutique museums and upscale shops, has the highest racial disparity in the city when it comes to police pedestrian stops. Although black people account for just 3 percent of the residents in that police subdistrict, they made up two-thirds of the people stopped by the police in the first half of 2017, according to figures collected by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“It is clear that African-Americans are not welcomed in that part of the neighborhood, period,” said Jordan A. Harris, a representative in the state house and chairman of the state’s legislative black caucus.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/starbucks-arrest-philadelphia.html