Yeah I thought it was so stupid. They basically accused all their workers of racism over some non-customer not getting to use the bathroom. Really?
I didn't get that from his statement, although he did reference training on racial bias.
Unconscious, non malevolent, racial bias is a real thing and can affect decisions we make when we are uncomfortable with certain situations. People tend to judge on appearances - clothing, skin color, manner of standing, the language they use (persons not speaking English in public makes some people nervous), and signs of wealth/poverty.
I was in a meeting at church last night and we were writing up some goals for the incoming student minister. Our college group is quite ethnically diverse (most diverse than the nearby University), and we want to remind the student minister to be careful, during outreach and evangelism, to not unconsciously strike up conversations only with people who look like him or her, but to be conscious that the Kingdom of God is wildly diverse and the minister should take every opportunity to interact with everyone who is willing.
Over the last 20 years or so, many churches tend to be homogeneous in terms in terms of social standing, employment (white collar vs. blue collar), ethnicity, and income level. In the vast majority of cases, it simply is a reflection of the human tendency to do outreach only to persons who are from a similar place in life. We want to do better than that.
In a similar way, it sounds like the CEO of Starbucks is trying to be better than they have previously been. I have no idea what happened at the Starbucks in question, but I bet the CEO has a better understanding than you or I have.