Leid Stories—The Starbucks Defensive Lays the Groundwork for A Possible Presidential Run; Remembering Robert F. Kennedy—06.05.18

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz later this month will end his 36-year tenure as executive chairman of the company and “think about a range of options that could include public service.” Read that as a possible presidential run. This adds new perspective on the quick shutdown of public outrage over the “trespassing” arrests of two African American men who were waiting for a third man for a meeting at a Starbucks store in Philadelphia.

Leid Stories commented that the men’s still-undisclosed “settlement,” followed by a companywide “bias-training” session featuring high-profile blacks, wasn’t just about a forward-looking company’s way of heading off a crisis.

On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, 42, was mortally wounded at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where supporters were celebrating his clinching of the Democratic nomination with primary election wins in California and South Dakota. He had just left the podium and was heading toward a kitchen exit when shots rang out. He fell, mortally wounded. In the early morning hours of June 6, Kennedy was pronounced dead.

Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian immigrant, was held as the gunman. He claimed that he was brainwashed and didn’t act alone.  He was sentenced to death after trial in 1969. His sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972.

Leid Stories commemorates the public spirit of Robert F. Kennedy with an interaction he had with students at Columbia University in 1964.