https://whyy.org/articles/the-woman-behind-the-viral-video-of-philly-starbucks-arrestsThe Woman Behind the Video of the Starbucks Philly Incident
The Starbucks Philly incident has gone viral. Videos of the police arresting two black men at the Starbucks’ Philadelphia branch were uploaded online. One particular video which generated a lot of clicks on Twitter was shot by a Philadelphia writer named Melissa DePino. Her video showed Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson after they were arrested.
Robinson and Nelson were handcuffed after being refused by an employee to use the coffee shop’s restroom. The two men had not yet purchased anything from the coffee shop and was waiting for someone who they had a meeting with. According to DePino, the two men did nothing wrong and that the only crime they
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Lauren shared the video to DePino who uploaded it on Twitter. DePino also wrote an article on CNN revealing why she posted it mainly because it felt it was the right thing. She did not even think about it and it was more of her impulse that told her to post it.
The writer believes that an incident like this happens on a daily basis which reminds us how painful it is that racism still exists today. Some are quieter and doesn’t get much attention as it should. As a white person, she never had any experience like what the two men went through or perhaps what other people of color living in the U.S. have to go through daily.
She thinks perhaps because she is protected with the privilege which is why she wants other people who don’t experience it to listen to those who are victimized by racism. Her only role is to ignite the conversation. Wanda Skyes even tweeted a response saying that we need to close the country for a bias training. Of course, she was referring to how Starbucks decided to close their stores for a day to conduct a racial bias