We've been updating you guys on the events that are taking place with Starbucks ever since two Black men were wrongfully arrested at a Philadelphia location. Today, 8,000 Starbucks coffee shops in America closed for a few hours so staff can undergo an anti racial-bias training. Common played a part in the training by lending his voice (literally) to narrate a video for all staff to watch. The famed rapper, actor, and producer paid a visit to Good Morning America to explain why it was necessary for him to take part in the training.
"Starbucks was just a microcosm of how black people have been dehumanized and I wanted to be a part of that conversation," he said, adding how it's important to "have a black man standing up and saying what we need."
Common first began a relationship with Starbucks' executive chairman Howard Schultz after police killed Michael Brown in Missouri. "After Michael Brown was killed, [Howard] was really trying to figure out how to get police and the communities together. And one of the things, one of the initiatives, I worked with him on was getting jobs for people in underserved communities," Common said.
"His heart is in the right place but it has to be more than just the conversation; which I think the conversation today is a step but, for me as a black man, we want to see action and want to see you going to the communities and … team up with people who are doing things in the community and figure out from these communities how can you really serve them."
Watch the clip below.
