Title: Tim Cook Reminds Employees 'Apple Is Open' After Australian Retail Store Employee Bars Black Teens Post by: HCK on November 15, 2015, 03:00:12 pm Tim Cook Reminds Employees 'Apple Is Open' After Australian Retail Store Employee Bars Black Teens
Earlier this week, a group of black teenagers were asked to leave (http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/were-worried-you-might-steal-something-apple-ejects-six-black-students-then-apologises-following-claims-of-racism-20151111-gkwkd0.html) an Apple Store in Australia by employees who were concerned about theft. The exchange was caught on video and has since gone viral, leading to a series of apologies, from the store's senior manager and from Apple. <img src="(http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2015/11/australiaapplestoreincident.jpg)" alt="australiaapplestoreincident" width="620" height="348" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-473419" /><center>Image via The Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/were-worried-you-might-steal-something-apple-ejects-six-black-students-then-apologises-following-claims-of-racism-20151111-gkwkd0.html)</center> Apple has released two statements on the matter, one from Apple CEO Tim Cook who said he wants "every customer visiting our stores or calling for support to feel welcome," and a second general statement clarifying Apple's core values. "Inclusion and diversity are among Apple's core values. We believe in equality for everyone, regardless of race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.Following the public apology, Tim Cook has now sent an internal memo to its employees, which has been shared by BuzzFeed (http://www.buzzfeed.com/brendanklinkenberg/heres-tim-cooks-email-about-black-teens-barred-entry-from-ap#.idBZ9aw9V). In the letter, Cook calls what happened "unacceptable" and says the video "does not represent our values." He goes on to remind employees that "Apple is open" to people from "all walks of life" regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language, or point of view. I'm sure you are all aware of the unacceptable incident which took place at our store at the Highpoint shopping center in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday. Several young men, who are students at a nearby school, had been asked by a security guard to leave the store. In an attempt to address the situation, one of our store employees gave an answer which shocked many of us.Following the incident, the senior manager at the Apple Store where the teens were ousted invited them back along with their school principal to make a formal apology and to make it clear they are welcome in the store any time. Following the apology, one of the teens said "She apologized to us and told us that we are welcome here anytime. It feels like we have justice now." <small>Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47) forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.</small> Discuss this article (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tim-cook-apple-is-open.1937619/) in our forums <div class="feedflare"> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=aiEfodgedSA:b6DhH9gBV1Q:yIl2AUoC8zA) <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=6W8y8wAjSf4" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=aiEfodgedSA:b6DhH9gBV1Q:6W8y8wAjSf4) <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=aiEfodgedSA:b6DhH9gBV1Q:qj6IDK7rITs) </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MacRumors-Front/~4/aiEfodgedSA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Source: Tim Cook Reminds Employees 'Apple Is Open' After Australian Retail Store Employee Bars Black Teens (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/13/tim-cook-apple-is-open/) |