Barista writes ‘ISIS’ on Muslim woman’s cup at Minnesota Starbucks. ‘I felt enraged’
A Muslim woman wants a Target employee and manager fired after the word “ISIS” was written on her Starbucks drink cup.
Aishah, who only gave her first name for safety reasons, said she felt humiliated, enraged and belittled after the incident at the Minnesota Starbucks.
It occurred July 1 at a Starbucks location inside of a Target in St. Paul, according to Jaylani Hussein, executive director for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The advocacy group held a press conference with Aishah and a civil rights attorney on Monday to detail the incident they call Islamophobic.
Aishah, a 19-year-old woman wearing a hijab, said her name multiple times to the barista when placing her drink order, Hussein said. When she received the beverage, she saw on her cup the name of the terrorist organization many people associate with the Muslim faith.
ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“When I first received the drink I was in shock that in this day and age something like this could be written,” Aishah said Monday.
She asked to speak with the manager, who sided with the barista, calling it a mistake, Aishah said. Hussein said the manager told the woman, “What is the issue? People get their names wrong all the time.”
Target gave Aishah a new drink and $25 gift card before she left the store, Hussein said. The Starbucks is a licensee store, meaning it is run by Target and not Starbucks.
A statement from Target to WCCO states the barista misheard Aishah’s name and the company apologized to her.
“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,” the statement read. “We’re taking appropriate actions with the team member, including additional training, to ensure this does not occur again.”
Target said in a statement to the Sahan Journal that the employee “has never heard of ISIS.”
CAIR is planning on filing discrimination charges with the U.S. Department of Human Rights, Hussein said Monday. Target has not responded to a formal complaint Aishah sent the company, according to CAIR.
“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,’” Hussein said. “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.”
In addition to calling for the workers to be fired, Aishah said it would give her justice for an incident of this kind to never happen again.
In a May statement,, Target CEO Brian Cornell said his company was committed to standing against racism. Alec Shaw, a civil rights attorney for CAIR, cited that statement when speaking Monday.
“We call on Brian Cornell and Target to make the same commitment to stand against Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination and hate,” he said.
