The two black men unjustifiably arrested for sitting in a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering have reached a settlement with the City that will benefit young entrepreneurs.
The Associated Press reports that Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson settled with the city Wednesday for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney says he’s pleased to have resolved the unfortunate matter.
“I am pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner,” Kenney said. “This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city and put us under a national spotlight for unwanted reasons.”
Robinson added that the program will benefit Philadelphia public high school students.
“We thought long and hard about it and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see,” Robinson said. “It’s not a right-now thing that’s good for right now, but I feel like we will see the true change over time.”
Nelson and Robinson were arrested on April 12 after a Starbucks employee called police on the men who were waiting for a third companion to join them for a business meeting.
Starbucks will close 8,000 stores in the U.S. on the afternoon of May 29 so nearly 175,000 employees can get training in unconscious bias.
