The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Minnesota chapter is condemning an incident in which a Muslim woman said an employee wrote “ISIS” on a cup after she ordered coffee in St. Paul.
Target, which runs the Starbucks in question, says they have apologized and “believe that it was not a deliberate act but an unfortunate mistake,” according to a statement Monday.
The woman reported she and a friend went to the Midway Target on Wednesday and ordered drinks from the Starbucks inside, according to CAIR-MN. An employee asked her first name and she told her, but the worker wrote something on the cup before she finished giving her name.
When the woman received her drink, she found the employee had written “ISIS” on the cup, CAIR-MN said.
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, is a commonly known acronym for a terrorist group.
The woman asked the employee why “ISIS” was written on her cup and the worker “claimed that she had not heard her name correctly,” according to a statement from CAIR-MN. “Later, a supervisor told the Muslim customer that ‘mistakes’ sometimes happen with customers’ names, suggesting that this is not the first incident in which a customer felt targeted or harassed by a Target employee’s conduct when receiving their coffee order.”
The Starbucks in the University Avenue location is run and operated by Target.
In a Monday statement, Target said: “At Target, we want everyone who shops with us to feel welcomed, valued and respected and we strictly prohibit discrimination and harassment in any form. We are 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. 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.”
CAIR-MN, which is holding a press conference on Monday, said in a statement they are “condemning an Islamophobic incident … and calling for the termination of the employees involved.”
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