Recently, Rep. Ayanna Pressley alleged that racial discrimination was to blame for the closure of a Walgreens pharmacy in the Roxbury area of Boston, Massachusetts. According to the Congresswoman, the closure will negatively impact minority communities in the area.
However, some have pointed toward reports which claim Walgreens has been closing stores due to the impact of “rampant theft” on business operations. Popular conservative account on X, “End Wokeness,” posted a video of Pressley’s rant on the House floor with the caption, “Rep. Ayanna Pressley accuses Walgreens of racial discrimination for closing stores in neighborhoods overrun by theft.”
The representative slammed Walgreens for “abandoning low-income communities,” adding that the Roxbury neighborhood is predominantly minority. She said that the broader trend of such store closures impacts vulnerable communities by removing access to necessary consumer items and employment opportunities.
“Walgreens is planning to close yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts seventh. This time on Warren Street in Roxbury, a community that is 85% Black and Latino. This closure is a part of a larger trend of abandoning low income communities like the previous closures and Mattapan and Hyde Park both in the Massachusetts seventh when a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood they disrupt the entire community and they take them and they take with them baby formula diapers, asthma, inhalers, life saving medications. And of course jobs,” Rep. Pressley said.
Pressley further claimed that the pharmacy closures are “life-threatening” acts rooted in racial discrimination. She and fellow Congressional Democrats demanded answers from the corporation as to why there wasn’t more consideration and input from “underserved communities.”
“These closures are not arbitrary and they are not innocent. They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination. That is why I joined with Senator Markey and Warren to demand answers from Walgreens’ CEO. Why was there no community input? No adequate notice to customers and no transition resources to prevent gaps in health care. Shame on you Walgreens, having a website with equity and underserved communities is not enough. Walgreens is a multibillion dollar corporation that needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop. Black and brown communities,” she continued.
Watch her here:
Conservative critics on social media quickly denounced Pressley’s comments on the Walgreens closures, maintaining that a profit-seeking business has no obligation to remain in business if it is losing money from theft. “Businesses should be forced to operate at a loss in jurisdictions that do everything possible to make those businesses unprofitable and create conditions that threaten the safety of their employees,” user “Western Lensman” posted in the comments section of the “End Wokeness” tweet.
Others slammed Pressley for having a “sense of entitlement” in expecting that stores should remain open amid the impact of rampant criminal activity in certain neighborhoods. “’These are life threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination.’—Ayanna Pressley It’s called ‘natural consequences.’ You steal or loot too much, stores close. Ayanna Pressley’s sense of entitlement is breathtaking. She should tell these communities to raise better kids.…,” said another user.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video
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