Stand-alone, company-owned Starbucks locations in the Baton Rouge area, across Louisiana and elsewhere in the nation will close this afternoon to provide racial-bias education for the firm's employees.
Those operating in retail outlets, airports and other such locations will stay open.
Nearly 175,000 Starbucks employees will learn about implicit bias, promoting conscious inclusion and preventing discrimination.
The training was prompted after the arrests of two black men at a Philadelphia store that sparked a nationwide backlash.
Copyright © 2018 TTWN Media Networks LLC Photo: Getty Images