A Muslim woman in the United States of America was left humiliated after a Starbucks barista wrote “ISIS” on her coffee cup.
Aishah, who only wanted to share her first name for safety concerns, said she ordered a coffee drink at Starbucks that is located inside a Target store in St. Paul, Minnesota, on 1 July 2020.
She said the incident left her feeling “humiliated, enraged and belittled”.
Aishah, who is 19 years old, was wearing a hijab when she entered the shop to order.
Upon ordering, she was saying her name when she noticed the barista writing something on her cup.
When you visit a Starbucks Coffee House Chain, it is a standard procedure to disclose your name when ordering a drink from them.
Aisha explained during a press conference that was held at the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR-MN) offices in Minneapolis and said:
When I first received the drink I was in shock that in this day and age something like this could be written. I felt humiliated, I felt enraged, I felt belittled.
Aisha questioned the Islamaphobic message during the conference.
ISIS is a used acronym for the Islamic State terrorist group.
The manager of the Starbucks that was in the scene at the time of the incident said:
What’s the issue? People get their names wrong all the time.
After the incident, Aishah was given a new drink and a $25 gift card.
However, the woman wants the barista and the manager to be fired.
During an interview with the Sahan Journal, she said:
I felt a lot of emotions because we’re at a time when people are protesting injustice all over. All these protests and all these people who are using their voice for a change. To me, it felt like in that moment, we’re doing all of this for people who don’t even care, or who are going to look the other way.
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-MN, said that they will be holding protests outside the store if Target will not take a decision.
Target released a statement about the incident and said:
We are very sorry for this guest’s experience at our store and immediately apologised to her when she made our store leaders aware of the situation. We have investigated the matter and believe that it was not a deliberate act but an unfortunate mistake that could have been avoided with a simple clarification. We’re taking appropriate actions with the team member, including additional training, to ensure this does not occur again.
Starbucks is yet to release a comment about the incident.