Starbucks closed more than 8,000 stores across the US on Tuesday (29th May 2018) as staff underwent racial awareness training. This comes after the coffee firm apologised to two black men who were arrested while waiting for someone in a Starbucks outlet in Philadelphia. Bosses apologised for the incident before meeting the two men and pledging to carry out training “geared towards preventing discrimination”. Starbucks has said it has contacted activists and experts in bias training to plan a curriculum for its 175,000 US workers. The training is designed to encourage people to talk about the implicit biases and stereotypes in encountering people of colour, gender or other identities. A video previewing the Starbucks training includes recorded remarks from its executives and the rapper and activist Common. The training will also address the lesser known concept of “unconscious bias training”, which is used by many corporations, police departments and other organisations to help address racism in the workplace.

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