The two black men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks last week, speaking out Thursday for the first time, said they hope the racial-bias incident that sparked a furor and calls for boycott will result in change.
"It’s not just a black people thing. This is a people thing," Rashon Nelson said in appearing with Donte Robinson on ABC's Good Morning America. "And that’s exactly what we want to see out of this and that’s true change...Put action into place."
They said the case, in which store personnel ordered them to leave as they waited for a friend without buying food or drinks, is about basic fairness.
"Rules are rules, but what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. That’s in any situation whether there's race involved or anything," Robinson said. "I want to make sure that this situation doesn't happen again, so what I want is for... young men to not be traumatized by this and instead motivated, inspired."
The pair arrived at the coffee shop in the Center City neighborhood of downtown Philadelphia at 4:35 p.m. on Thursday for a 4:45 p.m. meeting about a real estate deal they'd been working on for months, according to the interview. Nelson asked to use the bathroom, but was told it was for paying customers only, so the two men sat down to wait for the business associate. An employee then came over to ask if they wanted to order anything, but because they had bottled water with them, they declined. The 911 call was placed at 4:37 p.m.
Robinson said the police officers didn't read them their Miranda rights.
But on Thursday, the pair got an apology from Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, a black man who at first staunchly defended his officers' handling of the incident.
Ross said he "failed miserably" in addressing the arrests. He said that the issue of race is not lost on him and that he shouldn't be the person making things worse.
He said the police department did not have a policy for dealing for similar situations, but does now, and it will be released soon.
The Seattle-based coffee chain had no immediate comment on Nelson's and Robinson's comments. The two men's lawyer, Stewart Cohen, told GMA that they were in mediation with Starbucks under the supervision of a retired federal judge and couldn't comment on it.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson met with them personally to apologize.
When news of what happened got out, people protested outside that Starbucks store and called for boycotts of the company. The video of the two men's arrests went viral and has been seen more than 10 million times..
Johnson has apologized publicly for the incident and called it "reprehensible" and the staffer who called the police no longer works for the company.
On Tuesday, Starbucks announced it would close all 8,000-plus company-owned stores in the U.S. and the corporate office on the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias training
Robinson described his shock that the police officers were there for them.
"I was just trying to process the situation to myself at the time, because I’m thinking about my family that I have, my community," he said. "It didn’t really hit me what was going on, that it was real until I'm being double-locked and my hands are behind back."
Starbucks has promised change, relying on a statement and a company-produced video. It hasn't said what will change.
"Creating an environment that is both safe and welcoming for everyone is paramount for every store," Johnson said in a statement on Monday. "You can and should expect more from us. We will learn from this and be better."
Johnson made a single TV appearance, but has not submitted to any other interviews.
Contributing: Associated Press
