Minnesota Starbucks employee writes ISIS on cup of Muslim teenager whose name was Aishah: 'It was a mistake'
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA: A Muslim teenager was horrified to find the word "ISIS" written on her cup by a Starbucks employee last week on July 1. The teenager, who was identified as Aishah, was given the cold drink which had the name of the Islamist terror group written on it. The incident took place at a Starbucks located inside a Target store in St Paul, Minnesota.
The 19-year-old was wearing a hijab when she made her order and had also repeated her name many times. While doing a press conference on Monday, July 6, with a civil rights attorney, she shared, "When I first received the drink I was in shock that in this day and age something like this could be written." The attorney branded the incident as Islamaphobic, according to a Daily Mail report. Aishah shared that she felt very humiliated, enraged and belittled by the incident. The teenager had asked to speak with the manager who defended the barista saying that the incident had been a mistake.
The executive director for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jaylani Hussein said that the manager had told Aishah, "What’s the issue? People get their names wrong all the time." Hussein revealed that CAIR is planning on filing discrimination charges with the US Department of Human Rights. Hussein shared, "When we talk about this word ISIS and the weight that it has in the Muslim community, unfortunately with Islamophobia — the number one thing discriminatory identified is 'terrorist'."
"And the fact of the matter here is that using this word for us would be the same as a Black man today, being used the N-word, or anything else that would be offensive," he continued. Target also released a statement where they said that the barista had not heard Aishah's name correctly and issued an apology. The statement read, "We have investigated the matter and believe that it was not a deliberate act but an unfortunate mistake that could have been avoided with more clarification."
"We’re taking appropriate actions with the team member, including additional training, to ensure this does not occur again," the statement continued. The store revealed that the barista had "never heard of ISIS". Aishah, meanwhile, is demanding that the barista and the manager be fired. A civil rights attorney for CAIR, Alec Shaw, said, "We call on Brian Cornell and Target to make the same commitment to stand against Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination and hate." The store had given Aishah a different drink and a gift card for $25.
It was just last year when a man, Niquel Johnson, went through the same thing when he visited a Starbucks outlet in Philadelphia. Johnson was wearing the traditional Middle Eastern dress and had ordered three drinks. He had told the barista his name was Aziz, the shortened version of his Muslim name, according to USA Today. He later found that the barista had written "ISIS" on his cup.
"I was shocked at first, and then angry because I felt as though we were discriminated against," Johnson had said. A spokesman for Starbucks said, "The customer approached and provided the name 'Aziz'." "The barista mistakenly spelled it incorrectly." The spokesman said it was a "regrettable mistake."