Rashon Nelson & Donte Robinson
Rashon Nelson & Donte Robinson have spoken to media outlets following their arrest while at a Starbucks in Philadelphia.
Reports say the two black men were thrown out of the coffee joint after they did not order anything because they were simply waiting for a third party to start their business meeting. According to Nelson and Robinson own account –they were first approached by Starbucks staff asking if they needed any help, it was then that they explained they were waiting for someone.
At the same time, Nelson was denied the use of the bathroom after he was told he wasn’t a paying customer. Next thing they know, police officers are coming their way. The bizarre situation ended with the two friends and business partners –being taken in handcuffs from the Starbucks in Philadelphia’s tony Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
A video of the arrest quickly went viral and has been label by users as a racist indecent. They were wrongly arrested for ‘loitering’. The two men were held in a jail cell for at least 8-hours and had no idea of what people’s reaction had been to the incident.
Rashon Nelson & Donte Robinson have been friends since the fourth grade and turns out they were waiting for Andrew Yaffe, a white local businessman.
They explained to GMA
“We were there for a real reason, a real deal that we were working on,” “We put in a lot of time, energy, effort. … We were at a moment that could have a positive impact on a whole ladder of people, lives, families. So I was like, ‘No, you’re not stopping that right now.’”
For a change, the whole situation seems to have had a happy ending. Since the incident took place, they have met with Starbucks CEO and have started pushing for lasting changes to ensure what happened to them doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Rashon Nelson & Donte Robinson both 23-year-olds, had never been arrested before. According to his social media, Rashon Nelson attended John Bartram High School and also Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania –where he majored in fiancé and was an active member of the Alpha Eta chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. According to his LinkedIn, he also worked as an office assistant and most recently as a warehouse worker for Amazon.
The promising entrepreneurs are looking to work in real estate.
Image: AP
