'It was reprehensible, embarrassing and horrifying': Starbucks CEO defends closing 8,000 stores across the country for 'race training' afternoon following arrests of two black men

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Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has defended closing 8,000 stores across the country for 'race training', saying it is 'just the beginning' after staff called the cops on two black customers.

Schultz appeared on CBS This Morning ahead of the training afternoon, to defend the move amid claims that it was simply a publicity stunt.

'We could have spent marketing dollars different from this,' he said in response to claims it was a 'marketing ploy.' 

'It's just the beginning,' he said of the four-hour training session. 'What we've said to our board, our shareholders, we are deeply committed to making this part of everything we do. This is something that we're going to stay with.'

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz appeared on CBS This Morning to defend closing 8,000 stores across the country for 'race training' 

The training will take place weeks after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store after one asked to use the bathroom before he had made a purchase.

Donte Robinson and his friend Rashon Nelson, both 23, had been waiting for a potential business partner to discuss real estate development when one of the men asked to use the bathroom and was knocked back. Minutes after the pair had sat down at the coffee shop, the manager called the police and had Robinson and Nelson arrested.

'It was a reprehensible situation that we took complete ownership of,' Shultz said of the incident, that he called 'embarrassing' and 'horrifying.'

'I think we're living in a time in America where there is a fracturing of humanity,' he continued.

Starbucks will close 8,000 stores for training after the incident at this Center City Starbucks, in Philadelphia (pictured early Tuesday morning) where staff called the cops on two black men who were waiting for their friend

The Starbucks website shows that stores across New York City will all shut down at 2.30pm for training 

'We have an opportunity given the fact that we have stores in every community in America to begin a very important conversation. We've been in business for almost 50 years. This is probably one of the most important transformational moments in the history of our company.'

Schultz explained that the training would aim to teach people about unconscious bias against race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or class, and would train staff to address customers with empathy and compassion.  

'We want to be a welcoming environment to everybody regardless of their position in life,' he said. 

The company says their training afternoon will cost them $12million in lost revenue, according to USA Today. 

But many have questioned how much can be achieved within just four hours, with several branding it a 'publicity stunt'.

However, not everyone was against the move, with some praising it as a step in the right direction.

The plan has brought attention to the little-known world of 'unconscious bias training' used by corporations, police departments and other organizations. 

Reaction to the training has been mixed, with some branding it a PR stunt, and others praising it as a step in the right direction 

It's designed to get people to open up about implicit biases and stereotypes in encountering people of color, gender or other identities.

A video previewing the training says it will include recorded remarks from Starbucks executives, including CEO Kevin Johnson and Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, as well as rapper and activist Common.  

From there, the company says, its 175,000 employees in the U.S. will 'move into a real and honest exploration of bias.' 

Starbucks will also be opening stores in areas of poverty, and had hired 100,000 staff members from Opportunity Youth - a scheme which works to improve the lives of impoverished, abused and neglected youth. 

The training session may help to restore Starbucks' tarnished image after video of the the two black customers being arrested went viral and caused a huge backlash towards the company, prompting CEO Kevin Johnson to fly to Philadelphia to personally apologize to both men.

The manager who called police was also fired.

Nelson and Robinson settled with Starbucks this month for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free education. 

They also reached a deal with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to establish a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. 

Donte Robinson (right) and his friend Rashon Nelson (left), both 23, had been waiting for a potential business partner to discuss real estate development when one of the men asked to use the bathroom and was knocked back

Video of their arrests went viral and caused a huge backlash towards the company, prompting CEO Kevin Johnson to fly to Philadelphia to personally apologize to both men

The incident also led Starbucks to introduce a new policy whereby the chain will allow people to sit in its cafes and use its bathrooms - even if they don't buy anything.

Starbucks executives have said its previous policies were loose and ambiguous, leaving decisions on whether people could sit in its stores or use the restroom up to store managers. 

But after that policy was announced, customers and employees complained that it would invite homeless people and drug users into its facilities while also taking up seats that should be filled by paying customers.

The company has told its managers that they will have the right to remove anyone who sleeps or uses drugs in their chains, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

'We want our stores to be the third place, a warm and welcoming environment where customers can gather and connect,' the company said in a statement. 

'When using a Starbucks space, we respectfully request that customers behave in a manner that maintains a warm and welcoming environment by: using spaces as intended, being considerate of others, communicating with respect [and] acting responsibly.'

Starbucks chain managers will have discretion to call the police if they sense that there is 'immediate danger'.     

 The viral video sparked angry protests and calls for a boycott of Starbucks last month. (Protesters are seen outside a Philadelphia Starbucks where two black men were arrested)

Starbucks worked with the Perception Institute, a consortium of researchers, to create their training to tackle implicit bias.

It defines implicit bias as attitudes - positive or negative - or stereotypes someone has toward a person or group without being conscious of it. A common example, according to some of its studies, is a tendency for white people to unknowingly associate black people with criminal behavior.

Many retailers including Walmart and Target said they already offer some racial bias training. Target says it plans to expand that training. 

Nordstrom has said it plans to enhance its training after issuing an apology to three black teenagers in Missouri who employees falsely accused of shoplifting.

According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, there will be recorded remarks from Starbucks executives and rapper/activist Common. 

From there, employees will 'move into a real and honest exploration of bias' where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.

Starbucks has described it as a 'collaborative and engaging experience for store partners to learn together.'

Developed with feedback from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Perception Institute and other social advocacy groups, Tuesday's four-hour session will give workers a primer on the history of civil rights from the 1960s to present day.

Workers will also view a short documentary film.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Perception's co-founder and executive director, says anti-bias training is about awareness.

'The work that we want to do is not say you're a bad person because you have a stereotype about a group, but say this is why your brain may have these stereotypes,' she said.

Johnson declined to elaborate on the details of the Starbucks training. 

But she said Perception's workshops typically include mental exercises to show participants how bias creeps into situations. 

A session can include personal reflections, she said, such as, 'I was socialized to think about a group this way.'

Johnson said the real work is for employees to apply what they learn in their everyday lives. 

She likened it to exercising a muscle. 

Some ways to practice counter-stereotyping, she said, are to look for something unique about a person that is beyond their social identity.

'It could be having a question that elicits something more interesting than, say, the weather or the traffic,' Johnson said, stressing the need to 'go well beyond the superficial.'

Starbucks said the arrests never should have occurred and announced the mass closures of its stores for the afternoon of training.

Calvin Lai, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, said people should not place high expectations on this one day.

According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, there will be recorded remarks from Starbucks executives and rapper/activist Common

Johnson, the company's president and CEO, is also featured on the training video

Howard Schultz, the company's founder and chairman, also appears in the video

'We find that oftentimes diversity training has mixed effects, and in some cases it can even backfire and lead people who are kind of already reactive to these issues to become even more polarized,' Lai said. 

One afternoon wouldn't really be 'moving the needle on the biases,' especially when it's a company with as many employees as Starbucks, he said. 

'A lot of those employees won't be here next year or two years or three years down the line.'

Starbucks has said Tuesday's sessions serve as 'a step in a long-term journey to make Starbucks even more welcoming and safe for all.' 

It is working with volunteer advisers including Heather McGhee, president of social advocacy organization Demos, and Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

'One of the things Starbucks has to wrestle with is how to incorporate this kind of training into the onboarding of every employee,' Ifill said.

That takes a sustained effort, McGhee added.

'We have really made it clear that one training is not enough, and this needs to be part of an ongoing review of their policies,' McGhee said. 

'They really need to commit.'