Wauwatosa Starbucks Defaced By Racist Graffiti

WAUWATOSA, WI — The Wauwatosa Village Starbucks coffee shop at 1417 N. Wauwatosa Ave. was vandalized by racist graffiti this week.

A Starbucks customer who was enjoying a cup of coffee in the shop Monday afternoon said that they saw a female high-school-aged person first saw the graffiti that afternoon.

The customer, who spoke to Patch on the condition of anonymity, told Patch that the girl reported it to a Starbucks employee working at the store. Shortly afterward, a female employee went to clean the bathrooms and also saw the defacement.

"The employee who saw it is an underage, high school, African-American girl, and she was visibly shook up," the person who told Patch said.

That scene on Monday prompted the person to take a photo of the defacement, and also to offer to personally remove the graffiti, which was etched into a wood plank. Another person reportedly offered to help restore the plank to a better condition, however, Starbucks management said they'd handle the incident themselves.

The carving was described as "small-ish, 3 inches square-ish" on the wood molding on the left side of the sink in one of the bathrooms.

Attempts to reach Starbucks Tuesday morning were not successful.

Submitted Photo, Published With Permission