The social justice left has set its sights on Starbucks, and it seems they’ve found an easy bull’s eye. According to a now-viral video, a Starbucks in Philadelphia served up a piping hot cup of racial discrimination. This is ironic, given the fact that the coffee chain is noted for supporting numerous left-wing causes. However, Starbucks will quickly learn that social justice warriors will not miss an opportunity to virtue signal, even if it means attacking one of their own.

The inflammatory video shows two black men being arrested by police officers at a Starbucks in Philadelphia. The SJW mafia wants us to believe the experience of these black men is an indication of what they encounter every day in the United States. On the right, many conservatives might immediately presume that they’re guilty of some crime and therefore deserve to be arrested.

It’s not hard to presume that this was another situation where the left looks for reasons to engage in race-baiting. However, instead of jumping to conclusions, it’s always best to wait until more facts present themselves. As with similar stories, there is more to this sordid affair than meets the eye.

Here’s What Happened at Starbucks

Here’s the story: two black men entered a Starbucks in Philadelphia and asked to use the restroom. They were refused because they had not yet bought a drink. The reason they hadn’t yet purchased a beverage is because they were waiting for an acquaintance to arrive. So, they sat down to wait for their friend, who is shown later in the video.

The media reports that the manager of the Starbucks asked the men to leave, even though they had only been there for about fifteen minutes. The manager then called the police to remove them. When the authorities arrived, they asked the two alleged offenders to leave three times before arresting and escorting them off the premises.

Who Was in the Wrong?

At first, this story appears to be yet another video showing police mistreating black men. These types of videos are about as popular on Facebook as purple hair dye at a feminist convention. But are they really the guilty party here?

At first, the left attacked the police — one of their favorite targets. However, the video shows that these officers were only doing their jobs. Commissioner Richard Ross — also a black man — defended his officers’ actions. He stated that his officers “did absolutely nothing wrong,” and noted their professional conduct in the matter.

But what about the men who were arrested? These men refused to obey the officers’ orders. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with Starbucks’ policy regarding their customers, they have the right to create the rules for their establishment. If someone refuses to follow them, the employees have the right to call the authorities. Even though these men were being mistreated, they made the situation worse by refusing to leave when they were asked.

But are these guys the real problem here?

Was It Racist?

Unfortunately for the social justice warriors, it does not appear that the police engaged in any racist behavior during this encounter. But they should take heart – there was one party who could be held responsible: The employees of Starbucks. The store manager was enforcing the store’s policy regarding use of their restrooms, but there was one overriding problem.

The issue isn’t the policy itself — it’s how it was applied. It was reported that white customers who hadn’t made a purchase were not given the same treatment as the black patrons. One of them stated that she had been in the store for hours without being asked to leave. A white woman was also allowed to use the restroom without having bought anything.

Reactions from Both Sides

Naturally, the left has pounced on this story like starving Rottweilers on a steak. The social justice warriors on Facebook and Twitter have apparently come to the conclusion that both the employees and the police are guilty of racism. They are excoriating both on social media and calling for boycotts. Oddly enough, they have nothing to say about the men refusing to leave when asked – first by the management, then by the police.

The reality is that the employees did show discriminatory behavior. Whites who were present in the store were not asked to leave even though they did not make any purchases. They apparently received much better treatment than the two black men who were only waiting for a friend. However, the left’s tendency to overblow incidents such as these is off-putting to those who might be open to their argument.

This is why conservatives are of many opinions on matters such as these – some believe racism played a part, while others don’t. However, one conservative commenter on a news blog made an interesting point: “I just don’t care anymore. Too much outrage – too many false claims so that when a real one comes along – I just don’t care.”

So many on the far left inject racism into incidents where it is clearly not present. This is why folks on the right just don’t care anymore — when everything is racist, nothing is racist. Today, the left’s relationship with racism is a modern-day archetype of Aesop’s fable about the boy and the wolf.

For decades, they have screamed about racism– injecting it into areas where it is not present. They fashioned the word into a rhetorical cudgel with which they bash the heads of their political opponents. They have done this for so long that nobody believes them. The sad truth is that when a situation arises in which there could be legitimate concerns of racism, people either don’t care or they assume it’s another leftist lie. In the end, it is those who experience actual racism that suffer.

“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be -the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.” – Aesop