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Description
Councilman Kenyatta Johnson held a press conference on Monday, April 16, 2018 regarding the arrests of African-American men at the Starbucks on 18th and Spruce Sts.
Also, in attendance:
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown (At Large)
Councilman Derek Green (At Large)
Councilwoman Helen Gym (At Large)
Rodney Muhammad, President - Philadelphia NAACP
Andrea Custis, President & CEO – Urban League of Philadelphia
Michael Banks, President – African-American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ, & DE
A
Good
afternoon
everyone,
my
name,
is
Kenyatta
josh.lambden
council
person
for
the
Second
Council
Matic
district.
My
district
goes
from
city
halls
from
Navy
Yard.
The
Navy
Yard
to
the
airport
I'm
represent
more
than
15
diverse
neighborhoods
in
the
second
council
baddack
district,
including
1801
Scrooge
Street,
which
is
behind
us
with
the
store
known
as
Starbucks
today,
I'm
here
with
my
colleagues
and
City
Council
and
other
stakeholders
to
denounce
the
actions
of
Starbucks
on
April,
the
12th,
where
two
African
American
young
men
were
ejected
from
this
particular
establishment.
A
Now
some
will
say.
Well,
you
know
in
this
particular
case,
these
young
men
were
sitting
in
establishment
for
a
significant
period
of
time,
but
according
to
popular
popular
belief,
anyone
knows.
Starbucks
brand
is
based
upon
individuals
coming
inside
their
establishment,
using
Wi-Fi
having
meetings
and
taking
a
moment
to
enjoy
themselves
within
this
establishment,
so
why
these
two
young
men
were
singled
out.
I
have
no
idea
but
I'm
standing
here
with
my
colleagues
to
let
you
know
that
we
were
significantly
stay
on
this
case
down
recently
a
few
minutes
ago
to
be
quite
fret.
A
Not
so
you
know,
I
I
dealt
with
different
corporations
being
the
council
person,
the
city
council,
somatic
district
and
I'm
a
wait
and
see
that
the
changes
that
they're
talking
about
putting
in
place
I'm
gonna
tell
channel
six
that
they're
gonna
do
unbiased
training
for
their
staff
members
in
they
talked
about
how
they
want
to
apologize,
and
some
of
the
young
men
to
two
of
the
young
men
who
were
traumatized
as
a
result
of
this
event.
But
we
want
to
see
action.
A
We
want
to
see
actual
plan
to
make
sure
that
those
individuals
that
come
to
and
from
Starbucks,
not
only
here
for
18th
and
screw
Street,
but
all
throughout
the
city
of
Philadelphia
are
respected
and
they
can
go
to
the
establishment
without
fear
of
being
targeted
because
of
their
skin
color.
This
is
the
year
2018
and
when
I
was
sitting
home
talking
to
some
of
my
family
members
and
particularly
my
lease,
she
began
to
talk
about
how
to
Jim
Crow
era.
A
A
The
manager
would
have
made
a
better
decision
or
how
she
decided
to
address
the
situation.
The
situation
would
not
have
escalated
to
the
level
of
the
two
young
men
being
arrested,
and
so,
as
part
of
the
things
that
we
will
be
demanding
of
Starbucks
moving
forward.
Obviously
we
want
to
make
sure
that
they
engaged
in
diversity
and
inclusion,
training
and
sensitivity
training
for
all
their
workers.
A
We
want
to
also
make
sure
that
they're
moving
forward,
they
need
to
let
the
people
of
the
city
of
Philadelphia
and
also
the
nation,
know
that
they
care
about
all
human
beings,
african-americans
people
of
color
and
anyone
who
frequents
their
particular
facility.
But
in
this
particular
case
there
were
two
young
men
who
were
traumatized,
who
was
singled
out
only
were
targeted
and
so
I
asked
some
stakeholders
to
join
me
today
to
express
their
interest.
Their
concern
with
this
issue
with
the
Sun
would
have
asked
for
mr.
Michael
banks
from
the
African
American
Chamber
of
Commerce.
B
Get
afternoon,
everyone
I
would
definitely
like
to
thank
the
councilmen
for
a
senator's
opportunity.
This
is
a
very
unfortunate
event
that
you
know
I
had
to
stand
behind
a
podium
today.
You
know,
as
the
presidency
of
the
African
American
Chamber
of
Commerce,
for
peonies
in
Delaware
is
really
important,
and
this
this
event
speaks
to
the
importance
of
ownership
and
equity
and
African
American
community.
B
A
C
Hello,
my
name
is
Andrea
Custis
and
I'm,
the
president
and
CEO
of
the
Urban
League,
which
is
a
hundred-year-old
civil
rights
organization.
So
a
couple
of
things
number
one
I
do
want
to
say
that
mayor
Kenney
certainly
described
the
situation
correctly
when
he
said
this
is
what
racial
profiling
and
racial
discrimination
looks
like
in
2018,
two
other
things
I'm
real,
proud
to
have
Commissioner
Ross
as
our
police
commissioner,
but
we
missed
an
opportunity
that
day
and
here's
what
we
missed.
C
We
missed
an
opportunity
to
use
common
sense
to
make
a
judgement
and
to
use
the
skills
in
the
training
to
de-escalate
a
situation
before
it
went
out
of
control.
My
other
piece
is
very
similar
to
you
councilman
Kenyatta,
and
that
is
that
Starbucks
should
want
to
have
people
who
were
employed,
who
represent
their
values
I'm,
going
to
assume
that
they
value
black
people.
C
African-American
people
so
I
would
encourage
them
to
relook
review
all
of
their
policies
and
procedures
and
make
sure
that
their
folks
are
trained
properly
and
I
do
believe
that
you
can
make
a
difference
with
unconscious
bias.
Training.
Thank
you
councilman
for
letting
me
say
a
few
words
and
I
can
tell
you.
The
Urban
League
is
committed
to
helping
Starbucks
to
make
sure
that
every
individual
is
safe
and
welcomed
in
their
stores,
and
we
intend
to
do
that,
and
that
means
everybody
is
well
respected
in
their
stores.
Thank
you.
A
A
Well,
party
investigation
is
going
to
turn
up
that
this
may
have
been
one
of
the
problem
stores
problem
managers
in
the
past
and,
if
that's
the
case,
that's
totally
unacceptable
and
should
that
have
been
dealt
with
prior
to
us
even
arriving
for
this
particular
time.
And
so
at
this
time,
I'm
going
to
ask
for
my
good
friend
who
I've
been
working
on
I'm
a
variety
of
different
issues,
particularly
my
activism,
and
we're
addressing
some
issues
around
American
Airlines
right
now.
But
serrata
knew
my
heart
from
the
MWC
Peter.
Please
come
to
the
microphone.
D
Right,
peace
and
blessings,
Thank
You,
councilman,
Kenyatta
Johnson,
for
this
opportunity.
The
n-double-a-cp
is
in
its
one
hundred
and
ninth
year
of
struggled
in
this
country
in
that
109
years
of
struggle.
There's
a
trail
of
blood
that
blood
has
come
from
a
call
from
white
women
when
they
are
distressed
about
black
men
that
scene
intimidate
and
it
always
brings
a
brigade
whether
it's
the
Klu
Klux
Klan,
whether
it
was
the
mobs.
We
have
a
history
that
can
be
extracted
from
newspapers
all
over
this
country,
100
years
of
lynchings,
so
with
slavery,
segregation
and
Jim
Crow.
D
We
were
supposed
to
be
out
of
that
kind
of
era
in
2018,
but
this
kind
of
incident
shows
that
that
same
model
exists
in
Western
civilization
and
we
got
a
lot
of
work
in
front
of
us.
The
n-double-a-cp
has
issued
a
press
statement.
We
are
very
troubled
by
this.
We
always
investigate
things
before
we
come
out
public
and
what
we
have
found
so
far,
and
our
investigation
is
very
troubling
to
men
who
were
not
allowed
to
men
who
were
not
in
any
way
threatening
to
any
of
the
patrons
that
were
in
this.
D
D
We
can't
find
any
reason
for
them
to
be
approached
like
this,
except
for
the
color
of
their
skin,
that's
very
troubling,
and
it
represents
a
Tale
of
Two
Cities,
we're
50
years
away
from
the
assassination
of
dr.
Martin
Luther
King,
where
the
colonel
Commission
was
convened
by
President,
Johnson
and
a
conclusion.
A
summary
conclusion
of
an
exhaustive
government
study
found
out
that
we
are
two
societies,
one
white
one
black
separate
but
unequal,
and
as
a
result
of
that,
finding
some
work
was
supposed
to
have
taken
place
in
this
last
50
years.
D
So
something
like
this
wouldn't
happen.
We
have
asked
for
the
for
the
manager
that
called
the
police
to
be
terminated.
We
have
asked
that
the
police,
now
that
we
learned
that
when
the
store
told
them
that
the
men
should
not
be
arrested,
they
said
this
is
no
longer
in
your
hands,
that's
into
police
hands.
So
initially
we
were
looking
that
the
police
were
just
called
here,
but
then
they
began
to
take
matters
into
their
hand.
They
took
these
men
and
held
them
for
eight
hours.
D
They
had
to
let
the
men
go,
they
may
have
got
to
let
go,
but
we
not
gonna
let
this
go,
and
so
the
n-double-a-cp
has
joined
the
other
voices
in
Philadelphia
expressing
outrage
over
this
kind
of
behavior
and
the
only
reason
that
they
got
this
kind
of
police
response
is
because
of
the
location
and
the
zip
code,
and
so
we're
tired
of
that
kind
of
living
in
this
city.
And
so
we
draw
a
line
in
the
sand,
and
this
is
where
this
is
where
it
begins
and
the
president
the
CEO
may
have
come
here.
D
He
may
have
apologized,
but
that's
not
enough.
We
want
a
pink
slip
for
the
person
that
called
the
police,
and
we
want
to
see
the
police
that
did
not
exercise
good
judgment
or
strongly
recommended.
We
do
believe
that,
had
they
not
been
called,
they
wouldn't
have
been
here.
So
that's
a
word
from
the
n-double-a-cp.
We
stand
with
our
councilman
here.
We
stand
with
City
Council
that
are
willing
to
stand
out
here
to
speak
out
on
this
issue.
God
bless
you
and
keep
you.
Thank
you.
A
A
You
know
I
took
I've
talked
to
the
commissioner
earlier
on
today,
and
obviously
I
would
not
like
to
see
a
situation
where
this
particular
those
two
officers.
Actually
six
officers
would
make
the
situation
escalate
to
the
next
level,
and
so
we
want
to
continue
having
to
dial
up
to
try
to
figure
out
as
we
move
forward,
because
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
cops
only
came
because
the
young
lady
who
works
at
Starbucks
overreacted
and
called
them
on
the
scene.
A
A
A
A
A
Yes,
well,
the
replay
Frank
will
shoot
time
out
time
up
to
be
quite
frank
with
you
I'm,
not
here,
denouncing
Starbucks,
so
we're
talking
about
the
same
thing.
So
that's
my
perspective
and
I
got
a
track
record
of
addressing
this
issue,
so
the
debt
being
said.
Listen
this
particular
press
conference
is
ended.
I
want
to
thank
you
very
much.
If
you
have
questions
you
would
like
to
ask
our
ask
them
the
questions.
Thank
you
very
much
them
affect
my
colleagues
for
joining
me.