Common, civil rights advisers take part in Starbucks' anti-bias training

Black leaders who areadvising Starbucks Corp on its anti-bias trainingprogram, which begins Tuesday, hope it will reinvigoratedecades-old efforts to ensure minorities get equal treatment inrestaurants and stores, setting an example for othercorporations.

Starbucks committed to the training after a Philadelphiacafe manager's call to police resulted in the arrests of two black menwho were waiting for a friend.

The arrests sparkedprotests and accusations of racial profiling at the coffee chainknown for its liberal stances on social issues such as same-sexmarriage.

Anti-bias training is intended to get participants torecognize their own unconscious biases and avoid unintentional discrimination.

Starbucks is closing 8,000 company-owned U.S. stores ataround 2 pm local time on Tuesday as a first step in training 175,000 employees on racial tolerance. Some 6,000 licencedStarbucks cafes will remain open in locations such as grocerystores and airports, and those employees will be trained at alater time.

Demos, NAACP serve as advisors

Starbucks' training could have a lasting impact on itsemployees' behavior and pave the way for other companies to finally tackle racism in their own eateries and shops, saidHeather McGhee, president of public policy group Demos.

McGhee said one of her earliest memories as a black girlwas being chased from a penny candy store by a white store manager.

McGhee and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational FundPresident Sherrilyn Ifill, who are both advising Starbuckson its program, said they have been in regular contact with companyexecutives, particularly Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer, who also is African-American.

"People forget that the effort to be treated as fullcitizens with dignity in public spaces in this country wascentral to the civil rights movement, from the Freedom Riders tothe Montgomery bus boycott to the lunch counter sit ins" of the 1950sand 1960s, said Ifill.

The NAACP in the past sued Abercrombie & Fitch, WetSeal and Denny's Corp for racial bias. Each of thecompanies reached multi-million dollar settlements and vowed tochange their practices.

Training features Common, screening ofdoc

Starbucks in a preview of Tuesday's four-hour program saidemployees will watch videos featuring company leaders, hip hopartist Common and experts from the Perception Institute as wellas a short documentary the on history of racism in publicspaces. They also will participate in discussion andproblem-solving sessions on identifying and avoiding bias.

Most people want to think of themselves as being fair ...if you give them the tools to do that, their better angels take over.- Howard Ross, author ofEveryday Bias

The company already has issued employee guidelines foraddressing disruptive customer behaviour, including sleeping,using abusive language or taking drugs. The guidelines encourageworkers to ask if they would take the considered action with anycustomer, to verify the perceived situation with a co-worker andto dial 911 if the situation becomes unsafe.

Starbucks did not comment on future training plans. It hassaid it intends to eventually share its training program with other companies.

Corporate America began to embrace anti-bias training afterthe 2014 killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager bya white police officer in Ferguson, Mo.

Most anti-bias programs involve education on whatunconscious bias is, why humans have it, its impact on social interactions andsociety and mitigation tools.

"Most people want to think of themselves as being fair ...if you give them the tools to do that, their better angels take over,"said Howard Ross, author of Everyday Biasand foundingpartner of Cook Ross, which offers training on unconscious biasand gave Starbucks input on its program.