Islamophobia in US: Starbucks Barista writes ISIS on Muslim girl's cup

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A teenage girl in Minnesota named Aishah has filed a human rights complaint following an incident where a Starbucks barista wrote the word “Isis” on the teen’s cup instead of her name. The young woman has only given her first name because she has concerns about her safety in going public. Aishah was with a friend at a Starbucks inside a St. Paul, Minnesota Target store. The 19-year-old said that the barista asked her to repeat her name when they were taking her drink order. However, when Aishah was handed her beverage, it had the word “Isis” written on it instead of her name. Could this have been a mistake? Not likely.

Understandably, Aishah was shocked and horrified. She told BuzzFeed News that she felt a lot of emotions and shock was the main one. She said, “I actually couldn’t believe this was happening.” Aishah believes this happened to her because she was wearing a face mask and a hijab. As a result of the incident, individuals and organizations have rallied around the young woman. Mohamed Ibrahim is the deputy director of the Minnesota chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) and he said this on Monday at a press conference about the incident: “This is a reminder that Islamophobia is alive and present in our communities.”

Ibrahim’s organization assisted Aishah in filing a human rights complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human rights the same day of the press conference. Aishah said that the barista told her that she misheard her name and that’s why she wrote “Isis” on the cup, and a manager at the Starbucks intervened and said that people’s names are often misspelled on cups. In Aishah’s mind, these explanations are neither “credible or acceptable.” She points out that usually when someone orders a drink at Starbucks, the barista will get clarity on how to spell the name. But hey, the manager tried to make it right. He offered Aishah a free drink and a $25 gift card before having her escorted out by security.

The Target store that operates that particular Starbucks location said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that it’s “very sorry for this guest’s experience at our store and immediately apologized to her when she made our store leaders aware of the situation.” The spokesperson added that after an internal investigation, the store found that it wasn’t a deliberate act, but was an unfortunate mistake. They intend to supply additional training to the barista who did this.

According to Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-MN, their solution isn’t enough. He wants to see the manager and the barista fired and for Target and Starbucks both to invest in further training for their employees. In 2018, Starbucks had a nationwide store closing for a training day to provide diversity, anti-bias, and inclusivity training to all of its staff. It seems they need to do more. Starbucks stands by their statement: “The barista mistakenly spelled it incorrectly.” Aishah said she won’t be returning to Starbucks or Target. She says, “I felt humiliated, I felt enraged, I felt belittled.”


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