#ThankYou...

I’m thankful to be tired and sleep deprived the last few days, because I was spending time with 

friends and family instead of in my bed. I’m thankful for the belly aches that follow two home cooked meals. I’m thankful for the short time I had at home, because I know the shortness is only due to having a job to return to. I’m thankful for the itchy eyes and nose that come from puppy love at family gatherings. I’m thankful for the heartache that came from missing those that are no longer here. I know it means that I’ve experiences love, and that I have memories of those that have gone on. I’m thankful for headaches and pains because of those that show their worry care. I’m thankful to have missed my brother on Thanksgiving, not only because it means we have a relationship worth missing but because I know he was away with one whom he loves. I’m thankful that while home I missed my friends back at my other home. I have two communities that love and support me. I’m thankful for tired eyes, a happy heart, and a spirit at peace.

I am thankful. I am grateful. I am oh so blessed!

I am grateful for each and every blessing God has bestowed upon me. He has blessed me with a loving family, gracious friends, two homes, two churches, a job, a vehicle that powers through, and many more “things” that I neither need nor deserve.

It’s been a rough year… rough almost two years really. I lost my Pop, then my dad, had some friend drama, graduated college, did a cross country road trip, worked my last summer at camp, didn’t know what I was returning to, moved home, took part in three weddings, family drama, job searched, started Starbucks, started babysitting, made lots of poor decisions, gained some new friends, fell in love, left my jobs, didn’t know what came next, moved back to my college town, was job less, more friend drama, had my heart broken, learned lots of lessons, recovered a faith I didn’t know I was losing, struggled, found a job in my career, formed some life changing friendships, found some peace, and saw/ am still seeing God remain steadfast through it all.

I’ve had some low moments. I didn’t make all the best decisions. I fell down more than once, and yet, His mercy remained. He is truly sufficient for me. Everything in this life is an extra gift that I am undeserving of. I’ve learned that trials only polish and refine. Weariness only causes me to fall back on Him. The exhaustion, confusion, pain, hurt, and anger I have experienced this past year only brought me back to the feet of Jesus, and oh what a beautiful place that is!

I’m thankful for the little things. God has been gracious to me young measure. I know no more precious gift than to be loved  by a Lord who is active, who is merciful, who is gracious, forgiving, sacrificially loving, who created me, who knows me, who wants me! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for grace, mercy, and love. For friends, family, and a home. For my past, my present, and for having a plan for my future. Thank you Jesus for naps, for cats, parades, and babies. Thank you for seeing me, truly seeing me, and still loving and pursuing me. Thank you for never giving up on me no matter how fast or hard I ran. Your steadfast love, Your undeserved grace, peace everlasting, mercy never ending, and your Son. Thank you for crunchy leaves, teddy bears, warm blankets, hot jackets, and chocolate… because You even care about the little things.

#Moana

Confession time, I love Disney princess movies. I love Disney in general, like am overly passionate about it for someone in their 20's, but those princess movies are where it is at. I know Disney isn't exactly an unpopular thing to like- it's very stereotypical white girl, and I'm okay with that. However, that is not the point of this post. I tell you I love Disney princess movies because I want to discuss one in particular today, Moana.

I feel like the responsible "blogger" thing to do would be to list info about Moana right now, release date, popularity, all that info, but I'm just going to assume you know about Moana and not go into all of that. Moana is one of those Disney movies that came out with such popularity it's almost difficult to not know about it. It easily slid into place as one of my favorites the first time I saw it.

I think the movie was incredibly well done, and honestly there is so much I could go on about why I loved the movie (Hei Hei in general is deserving of his own blog post) but I actually just want to discuss one scene. If you haven't seen the movie then you might want to stop reading now. I saw that partially because of spoilers, and partially because I don't know that you will fully understand what I'm about to describe if you have never seen it for yourself. With that warning in place, let's get on with it,

Picture the big scene. The climax of the movie, Moana and Maui fighting to return the heart of Te Fiti. Maui is serving as a distraction and our heroine is standing on some rocks in the middle of the ocean about to return the heart of Te Fiti only to realize that Te Fiti is gone. Holding the salvation for her people in her hand she looks down and everything clicks. The lava monster Te Ka is roaring behind her, about to approach, and Moana knows what she has to do. Maui has a beautiful moment doing a haka, and right as Te Ka is about to destroy him Moana gets this monsters attention. She holds up the heart of Te Fiti, the heart of Te Ka, one in the same.  

In one of the most visually stunning moments of the film, and an incredible emotional (slightly scary) scene Moana gives orders to the ocean "Let her come to me."As the waters part and Te Ka crawls towards Moana she, in true Disney princess fashion, begins to sing, 

"I have crossed the ocean to find you.

I know your name

They have stolen the heart from inside you.

But this does not define you

This is not who you are

You know who you are"

Moana restores Te Fiti's heart after whispering to the lava monster "I know who you are" and greeting her in traditional fashion. Once the heart is restored Te Ka transformers into the beautiful Te Fiti. The whole sequence is stunning. It's one of those scenes that almost seems to demand a respectful hush in what ever room the film is being watched. It's a scene that was so well done and it leaves an impact.

I cry watching this scene. I know it might seem a bit extreme to some of you, but let me explain. I had seen the film before but during my last summer at camp we all watched it together. Crowded into the chapel, laying on the floor, the scene hit me in a way it never had. I don't know if it's because of all that I was dealing with at the time, or if it's because I was in a spiritual mindset after spending weeks at a Christian camp, but I saw Christ in that scene and it was beautiful. 

I don't want to take away from any meaning the writers, directors, and cultural experts that contributed to the movie actual meant for the film or this scene in particular. I know that there is cultural significance to the Polynesian people in regards to certain aspects of the film. I in no way want to take away from that, but I couldn't help to watch the movie and be stuck by how similar Moana's words to broken, pained, monstrous Te Ka is to Jesus when He looks at us.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Can you see what I am seeing? Te Ka and Te Fiti are one in the same, just one is without their heart. Te Ka is portrayed as a lava monster, causing death, destruction, screaming and thrashing around. Te Fiti, with the heart, is calm, life giving, mother nature, quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. It's a stark difference, a drastic change, and while watching the film I saw what happened to my soul when I was saved by Christ. Like Te Ka I was broken, dying, screaming out in pain, causing destruction, until Jesus transformed me. I believe that at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit enters a person, kind of like the moment that the heart of Te Fiti was restored. We are made whole, complete, given peace and a purpose when it happens. It is beautiful!

As much as the visuals of the scene hit me, the words hit just as hard. Sitting in that chapel listening to Moana sing I felt like I could almost hear Jesus saying "this is what I did for you, this is what I said to you". I've heard the phrase often in my life that the devil knows your name but calls you by your sin while Jesus knows your sin yet calls you by your name... "I know your name". I believe that all humans are innately sinful, I believe that the only perfect human to ever walk this earth was Jesus, and I believe that we often spend this life wading and basking in sin and destruction instead of seeking that saving grace. We let the sins of this world, our own human desires, consume us and rule us- "They have stolen the heart from inside you". But, the crazy thing is, much like Moana crossed the ocean to restore Te Fiti's heart, Jesus crossed from heaven to earth to save us. He sees our sin and shame and He tells us that it doesn't have to define us. He has paid the cost and His blood can cover all our wrongs. We have been called to more than sin, we have been called to a life abundant in Christ. We are God's creation, His children, His beloved... we are not our sin!

You might think I'm crazy. Either for believing in Christ or for reading that much into a children's movie, but let me tell you- Moana moved me. It wrecked me. I set there crying in that chapel overwhelmed with God's mercy, grace, and love. I have watched the movie quite a few times since. Every time it gets to that part I can't help but smile. I still tear up sometimes. I know it might seem crazy, but I so hope that you get to experience the same thing I did. I hope that you have that moment of just simple doing life and enjoying happy things and the true power and being of God just hitting you. A "God moment" as it's sometimes cheesily called. 

1. I love Moana. I love Disney. But, man I love my God so much more. 

#Pword

I want to talk to you about sex... sort of. Actually, I want to talk to you about purity. If you were raised in any sort of Christian environment then you know that these topics pretty much always go hand in hand. I'm reading a book at the moment on emotional purity. The premise of the book is to encourage health relationships (friendships) between opposite sex individuals by setting boundaries in emotional conversations and situations. I'm reading the book by recommendation from a good friend, and I think the basis of the book is great! I think that this is a real issue that isn't discussed enough in Christian circles. I think often the conversation of purity is focused purely on the physical aspect and not enough on the emotional side.

I'm only a couple chapters into the book. I don't want to name it until I've given it a full read through, but I do want to go ahead and discuss one issue I have with the conversation in the book. My purity is not for my future husband. I'm going to say that again, my purity is not for my future husband. I've set in numerous chapels, small groups, read countless articles, books, and bible studies that all encourage young Christians to remain virgins, stay pure, so that you can one day present your spouse with the ultimate gift. We endocrine our youth with the idea that if they aren't pure, if they aren't virgins, then they are failing their spouse. We say that purity is something you owe your spouse, this is the ultimate display of love.

I believe the bible does encourage people to stay pure until marriage. I think that this is the intended idea and that it is something to strive for... but I don't think it's sole purpose is for our spouse. Can I be real honest for a moment? My future spouse, who may or may never come along, is not enough for me to stay pure. This person that currently doesn't exist in my life and may never actually exist is not the reason I want to strive for purity. They are not reason enough. I don't know if I will ever get married. I don't know that my spouse will themselves be a virgin. I don't know that my spouse will be the first person I fall in love with to be real, and they just aren't reason enough.

But Jesus is. I don't know if I will ever have a man that loves me enough to spend his life with me, but Jesus already loved me enough to die for me. I'm not sure if I will ever have a wedding day, but Jesus already had a resurrection day. I don't know if I will ever have a spouse, but God knew about me before my parents ever gave thought to me. I believe the bible encourages purity. We are to strive for emotional and physical purity not because it is what makes us worthy of marriage but because God has made us, loved us, and called us to present our bodies as a holy and living sacrifice and that means that it is all for Him. 

I think that emotional intimacy is necessary for a marriage to last, and I think that this type of relationship with a person that is not your spouse is harmful because of the harm it causes us when those feelings and expectations go un-returned. I think that sex is something that is intended to be shared between husband and wife and that it is a beautiful and life giving thing, but I don't think think that sex before marriage ruins you. I think it hurts you. I think it leaves scares because it is such an intimate gesture and once again when that intimacy is not returned it causes doubts, insecurities, pains, and misunderstandings to arise. However, I think that if the only reason you refrain from sex is for another person, if that is what we teach our youth, then we are setting them up for hurt and failure.

Mo Isom wrote an incredible book titled Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot that explains this way better than I ever can. I highly encourage all young, and old, Christians and church goers to read it. I think Mo does an excellent job of explaining what purity really is and how we have gotten it so wrong and twisted over the years. I picked this book up on a whim, but it is one that speaks truth because Mo takes it back to Jesus. She takes it back to the bible and explains why sex is great, what purity really means, and what this should look like in our lives.

I don't think this is an easy topic. It's taboo. It's uncomfortable. It's one that the church doesn't discuss because I think a lot of people in the church no longer know how. When your purity is the reason you think another person should value you then you are setting your self up for hurt. It's why so many Christian women struggle after marriage. It why shame enters otherwise Godly relationships, because if your only reason for remaining pure was so that you could then give that purity to someone else, then what are you left with? If your reason for remaining pure is so that you can honor and glorify God, and then you have sex and intimacy in the context He created it for, you see the beauty and you see God's love.

I'm not saying that remaining or striving for purity for Christ suddenly makes it easier. Lust and sexual desires, intimate personal relationships, trust and openness with the wrong people, all these things can and will still be temptations. I just feel like, for me at least, those temptations become a lot more worthy of a fight when I know that it is God that is pleased and not some man that may never actually exist.

#WillWork

When I was in the 8th grade we had to do a research paper on college options and career paths. We were expected to choose three universities we might be interested in attending one day and what major we would like to do there. They asked us to do this in 8th grade so that we could better choose what path we would need to take in high school. Did we need to strive to be in the accelerated math program, align our classes with the goal of doing AP by junior year? Was duel enrollment a better option for the university we wanted to attend?

Realistically our teachers knew we would probably switch career dreams by time we graduated, but it was something we were expected to be in consideration of the whole time we were in school in order to be the best prepared. It is the goal of college prep schools to prepare you for college after all.

In 8th grade I chose three universities that by time I actually graduated high school I would learn there was no chance of me ever affording. All three were private Christian universities, some of the best in their states. They weren't Ivy League or anything, but they were nice. I wrote about attending school for a history major. I wanted to focus on Native American studies and work side by side with native communities to preserve, understand, and share the history and culture. I actually considered a history degree of some variety up until my junior year of high school.

Choosing a school and major become more real around junior year of high school. At that time you are expected to actually put in applications to schools. It's no longer hypothetical but reality. Junior year of high school I decided I wanted a career path with more meaning. I didn't want to become a teacher or work in a museum, and so while I loved history it really wasn't the right major for me. I wanted something with meaning. I wanted to do a job that helped me serve others. I started looking into psychology and social work, and after research, meetings with advisers, college acceptances, and more important scholarships and financial aid acceptances I ended up at a smallish tech school an hour from my home town that covered me in full. I went to school for a degree in Sociology with a double concentration in Social Work and Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. I graduated after four years, and I then went on to work at Starbucks for the next year.

Can I be honest? I'm still not positive I know what I want to do with my life. In 6th grade when asked I told them I wanted to become a solider. In lower elementary school when asked I said a clown, and in upper elementary I wanted to become a baker. During college I considering going on to get a masters in counseling, I've talked about opening a coffee shop, trying to go to law school, and I've looked a lot into missions. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm not sure what the future holds for me... and I'm not entirely sure I will ever know.

That's not to say I don't have goals. I have things I desire out of life, I'm just not sure on a career. I want to be a wife, and a mom. I want to continue to always be involved in a church that I love. I want to have friends all over that I get to travel and see. I want to travel. I want to never stop learning. I want to learn about theology, I want to study religions, I want to know history, I want to be taught new crafts, and I never want to think I know all I need to know about any topic. I want to be happy, to find joy in the little things. I want to have a home that others feel welcomed in, a cozy place I can retreat to as well.

I want to share the Gospel. I want to serve God. I want to love others, and love them well. I want to make relationships with people that really pour into me, and then I want to form connections that I can pour back into. I want to know God and I want to really understand His word. I want Christ to be the center of my life, and I want to go wherever He directs me. I'm not sure where that is yet, not entirely at least. I know God has placed me in the town that I'm supposed to be in, and He has blessed me with an incredible community. I know what church I'm supposed to be at, but I'm still figuring out in what way. I don't have a job, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm applying... sorta. I know that I want to work with kids, and I know that ministry is heavy on my heart, but I'm not sure what comes next. Kind of like when I was in 8th grade, I'm not positive what is the most realistic, and I haven't entirely worked out what the step by step plan is, but I'm looking into it and I'm rolling with it... and I'm excited to look back on this time and the journey that comes.

#ToBeAPartner

Life update: I’m a Starbucks Barista and have been for almost a year now. It’s been an interesting journey. Like most jobs there are days where I enjoy it more than others. Working for such a large corporation has its ups and downs. Honestly, I am extremely thankful for the lessons and experience I’ve gained working for Starbucks. 

Tuesday Starbucks did something it never does. It shut down for half a day. Incase you aren’t aware, most stores don’t even close for Christmas... or any holiday... so it’s a pretty big deal. Unless you managed to avoid the news then you probably know why Starbucks closed down for a half day. Yesterday all partners in they US received racial bias training. This was in response to an incident that happened in Philadelphia earlier this year. Two black men entered a Starbucks and waited on a third man to arrive for a business meeting. One of the men asked to use the restroom and was told that it was for paying customers only. The two men had intentions to buy Starbucks but, as people often do, were waiting on their third company to arrive. The men had the police called on them and were arrested for trespassing. I will link some of the news stories below to give a timeline of the event and all that has happened since.

I want to make something clear before I go any further. I believe that what happened to these men is ridiculous, humiliating, and shameful. They were causing no problems they should not have been arrested, and everything about the situation was wrong on Starbucks’s end. When this first made news and Starbucks announced that it would be closing its doors for a day to educate its partners on racial bias I was impressed. I was excited to hear such an immediate response and one that wasn’t just an apology but actual action as well. I was hopefully optimistic about how the day would go and what Starbucks would put together. They worked with different prominent black community members, they had Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. review the materials, and Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. gave advice on the curriculum that was developed. Famous artist Common was one of the ones brought in to talk in the videos, and documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson Jr.  was an active part in making some of the videos that were shown during the training.

All of this is good. These are great things! And yet, I still feel like the whole thing missed the mark just a bit. I left the meeting frustrated with what Starbucks put together. Disappointed that they missed some important opportunities, and also feeling like some big issues were not addressed well.

Let me make something clear. I am white. (Like Casper the friendly ghost white) and I know that I will never understand what it is like to be a racial minority. My thoughts and opinions on the training are my own and do not reflect anyone’s experience but mine. I know that people with different backgrounds might have a different perspective on the training and I want to respect that. However, I also want to be honest in what I experienced and that is all this is.

I didn’t love the training. I actually got incredibly frustrated during it. The set up wasn’t the best in practicality, and I feel like Starbucks left some important people out of the discussion.

I know some people feel like the training wasn’t Starbucks job anyway. There are those that feel like it’s not an employers job to teach its employees to not be racist. People feel like Starbucks should be teaching its partners about coffee... not how to not be offensive. I disagree, but I do understand this argument. Should a company have to teach its employees to not be racist? No... but unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s not needed. However this was issue number one. Trying to teach grown men and women to “not be racist” by having them to attend a four hour training session at their place of work  probably isn’t the best way to accomplish the task. Maybe I’m just being pessimistic but I feel like the people that probably got the most from the training we’re probably pretty open people to begin with. I know that Starbucks didn’t expect to “change the world” with their training but I’m also not sure it was completely approached with believable expectations either.

The way the training was set up at our store, and I’m lead to believe it was supposed to be the same at all, was that we were split into groups given some written materials and an iPad. We each had small booklets to answer question in and write down thoughts in. We had some giant newspaper type papers to answer questions in as a group, which also had the transcriptions of the videos in it. And, we had to watch multiple videos on the iPad. So, for example, our group was 8 adults gathered around an iPad to watch videos while to other groups roughly the same size watched the same videos but slightly timed differently on either side. Can you picture it? Do you see where this is slightly problematic? About 20 minutes into it our group and another both had to move. We couldn’t pay attention and the feedback of the other iPads sounded similar to being at a sporting event when the announcer echos. So we moved. But then we still couldn’t hear. You couldn’t see super well. While the IPads were a generous and smart idea, in actuality they were difficult to use in a way that all could see and hear. So those are my main issues with the physical structure of the training.

Actual material wise is a little more difficult to talk about. I don’t want to offend anyone. I know that some people were really moved, inspired, and even encouraged by the training. I know many people spent a lot of time and effort on this training and also I realize I’m not a professional. The majority of the material in the training session was not new to me. I have a degree in Sociology. A lot of this information I’ve heard and discussed while in college, and I realize not everyone had this same type of informational experiences. Having this degree doesn’t make me a professional though. This is still just my opinion and my take on the whole experiences. 

My largest issues with the training was that unless if I’m mistaken all the material was put together by Starbucks people meeting with leaders in the black community. So the majority of the people that put the material together were white or black. That’s it. White or black. No other POC leaders involved. The training was essentially and almost entirely focused on black and white racial biases. There were a couple of questions and exposes that could have been more generally applied but the majority of the material was still focused in this way. Starbucks had an incredible opportunity and I feel like they didn’t fully utilize it. Why weren’t leaders from all sorts of minority groups called together? Why was this not really acknowledged? I don’t think black people are the only ones who experience negative racial bias. I don’t think they are the only people group to feel excluded or be racially profiled but I feel like they were the only group the training focused on. Let me emphasize once again that the dynamics of the training made it hard to pay attention, view, and hear at all times so it is possible that I missed something big... but I don’t think I did. 

The store I work at is primarily white partners. As in all but three employees of around 30 are white. One of the partners at our store is Mexican. I can’t speak for her, but I know she mentioned during the training that she didn’t feel represented. The questions were geared towards getting you to focus on the differences in a black persons experiences and a white persons. The documentary that showed the history of racism in America showed the history of racism toward blacks in America. This is important, but blacks people aren’t the only one to have experienced this. Where was the Asian representation? The Native, the Hispanic, the Middle Eastern? I didn’t see it. It wasn’t there.

Black lives matter. There are no buts or ands. Black lives matter. Black people deserve representation. They deserve equal rights. They deserve to not be treated like second class citizens, to be in fear of how people see or view them, to worry about the police. Black people do not deserve to be arrested for no reason. They deserve a good and just and equal life. 

Racial bias training should cover all racial minorities. There are no buts or ands. We are not a country of two races. We are not a company that serves only black people or white people. We are a company that doesn’t want to discriminate or cause offense. The training was about how to make all feel welcomed. To make Starbucks a third place. I think that should apply to all races, all groups, all minorities... and so I’m frustrated that this didn’t feel covered.

My last issues with the training was that it didn’t truly acknowledge the faults in policy. The way the employee that called the police on the two black men in Philadelphia was able to “justify” their decision is because Starbucks had a policy that said if you are going to hang out in Starbucks you have to buy something. Starbucks changed the policy after the incident so that something similar never happens again... but the policy was there. It existed. There was a reason for it, but it was partially at fault. 

One of the examples given for us to discuss in the training was from a partner that said he served a customer with a thick accent. He struggled to understand the customers order and had to ask him to repeat it several times. Then, as is Starbucks policy, he asked the man for his name. Starbucks wants us to know our customers by name to make them feel welcomed to give them a one on one experience and to make it easier to give out drinks. The partner struggled to understand the customers order and asking several times for him to repeat ended up just saying in a laughing manor “I’m just going to call you Bob.” We we’re supposed to discus what could have been done differently, and why this was wrong. It is racially insensitive. You don’t just get to give someone a name that is easy for you because theirs is a name you are not accustomed to. It’s not an appropriate response. 

However, I feel like the issue is also because of policy. I’m going to be honest. When I have a customer that has a thick accent and I struggle to understand their order I don’t ask their name. I don’t do this because I don’t want to get to know them or to make their experiences special and personalized. I do this because after asking multiple customers for their name that had an accent I realized the frustration that occurred. I have had customers pull out their id’s because they know I will not understand them. I’ve had customers shake their head and walk away because they know it will take to many times of them repeating for me to understand and they don’t want to deal with it. I’ve had customers get embarrassed because I asked them how to spell their name and they don’t know the English letters. They can recognize their name but not tell you how to spell it. I’ve had customers that don’t understand what I’m asking them and get nervous because they don’t know what’s going on. Asking for their name does not improve their experience. It makes it worse. It’s a little policy. It’s one that is often ignored to be honest, but it does exist. I wish more of the training discussed how policy isn’t perfect, that they taught their employees to use discretion, to ask for back up or advise when they are unsure about a situation. 

Another example was given of a woman who approached a man and told him pan handling was not allowed on the property. It was a man and he was asking a woman for money. They didn’t look like they were together and his description was given to show how the partner was judging him based off of his looks. When she made this comment to him the women he was requesting money from responded “that’s my husband.” We all laughed at this example because of the awkwardness the partner must have felt. They were probably embarrassed and didn’t know what to do after. The example was trying to show their bias, but I took issue with the example because the partner was doing what policy states. Pan handling isn’t allowed on property. This is done for the comfort of our customers and their safety. The partner observed a situation incorrectly but the partner also responded in the appropriate manor to what they believed was going on. Yes they shouldn’t judge, but also if the man was panhandling and the partner saw and did nothing they could have gotten in trouble. Policies like that situation I tell someone higher up about. We have an issue with smokers outside our store even though we have numerous signs and it’s against the law to smoke on our property. I never tell a customer to stop smoking. I tell a shift lead, or the manager and let them handle the situation... but the policy still exists. I wish that part of the training had dealt with policy issues and Starbucks acknowledging faults that exist in policy.

Overall I’m glad I got to participate in the training. I’m glad that Starbucks took the initiative to respond the way they did... but like most new things it wasn’t perfect. It could be improved. It could have been done better. The intentions were right and just and well intended... but we have to stop waiting for serious issues to occur to respond. We have to take initiative. We have to take action. We need to not have to teach grown adults to not be racist or offensive by teaching children this their whole lives. 

I want to emphasize one last time that all the above is just my opinion and my experience. Yes I am a partner, but this doesn’t reflect the views and feelings of all partners. It doesn’t even reflect the experiences of everyone in my store. I also acknowledge that I don’t know what it’s like to be a black person viewing this training. I don’t know what it’s like to be on the other side of racism and then to finally have your experience represented in this training... I just wish other POC and minority experiences were  represented as well.

Below I’ve included a variety of links covering different parts of this story. I tried to include a variety of news outlets and aspects of the story.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-men-arrested-philadelphia-starbucks-say-they-feared-their-lives-n867396

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/16/arrest-of-two-black-men-at-starbucks-for-trespassing-sparks-protests

https://amp.businessinsider.com/starbucks-closures-arrest-cost-millions-2018-4

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/02/us/starbucks-arrest-agreements/index.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/starbucks-ceo-mentor-black-men-arrested-philadelphia-cafe-article-1.3969682?outputType=amp

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/protests-follow-outrage-after-two-black-men-arrested-philly-starbucks-n866141

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/5294343/starbucks-employees-racial-bias-training

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/starbucks-closing-racial-bias-training.html

https://news.starbucks.com/news/closing-stores-opening-hearts-starbucks-partners-share-their-responses