According to the Philadelphia branch of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an employee at a Starbucks in Chestnut Hill wrote a Muslim man’s name as “ISIS” on his order slip.
Abdul Aziz Johnson and his two friends had stopped at the Starbucks at 8515 Germantown Ave. Johnson was wearing traditional Islamic attire when he ordered his beverage, according to an account of the incident posted to the Germantown Masjid’s official Twitter account.
When Johnson received his order, printed on the slip attached to his beverage in the spot where his name should have been, he found the word ISIS, the abbreviation for the militant Sunni jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
One of the Admin, who was dressed in Islamic attire, recently bought a drink at @Starbucks and they wrote ISIS on the cup
Clear discrimination that needs to be addressed. #MUSLIMSNOTISIS pic.twitter.com/qOb3ynUD0o
— Germantown Masjid (@GtownMasjid) August 29, 2019
Starbucks employees are known for misspelling customers’ names on their orders, sometimes intentionally.
On the other hand, roughly 35% of U.S. citizens still believed there was “a great deal” of support for religious extremism among Muslims living in the United States in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center.
According to a Washington Post reporter, Johnson filed an online complaint and a Starbucks representative responded via email on Monday, saying they were concerned about the incident.
CAIR-Philadelphia is also demanding that Starbucks send a letter of apology to Mr. Johnson and that Starbucks executives meet with CAIR officials to discuss integrating anti-Muslim racism training for the corporate giant’s Philadelphia employees.
Jacob Bender, CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director, said
This incident takes place in a culture of hatred pushed by the highest offices of the nation. Muslim children are called names every day in schools around the country. The incident in Chestnut Hill is a symptom of a deep-running problem that needs to be rectified by educational programs and a zero-tolerance policy.
Starbucks‘ official Help account has also acknowledged the incident on Twitter.
We do not tolerate discrimination or profiling of any kind in our stores from partners (employees) or customers. After learning of this incident earlier this week, we reached out to Aziz to address this concern.
— Starbucks Care (@StarbucksCare) August 30, 2019
