‘Squad’ Democrat accuses Walgreens of racism for leaving Boston neighborhood: ‘Shame on you’

Walgreens was accused of “racial discrimination” by a Democratic lawmaker in Massachusetts immediately after the pharmacy huge shut an additional place in Boston.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., railed from the “multi-billion dollar company” for their determination to pull out of the predominantly Black and Hispanic community of Roxbury all through a speech on the Household flooring on Wednesday. It is the fourth Walgreens store to near in Boston in a little in excess of a 12 months.

“Mr. Speaker, Walgreens is planning to near but an additional pharmacy in the Massachusetts 7th. This time on Warren Avenue in Roxbury, a neighborhood that is 85 per cent Black and Latino. This closure is a part of a larger sized development of abandoning small earnings communities like the earlier closures in Mattapan and Hyde Park, both equally in the Massachusetts 7th,” Pressley commenced.

“When a Walgreens leaves a community they disrupt the full community and they just take with them newborn components, diapers, asthma inhalers, daily life-preserving drugs, and, of system, careers. These closures are not arbitrary and they are not harmless. They are lifetime-threatening functions of racial and financial discrimination,” she said.

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Pressley pointed out how she, alongside with fellow Massachusetts Democrats Senator Ed Markey and Senator Elizabeth Warren, experienced demanded responses from Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth.

Final month, the Democratic lawmakers protested the store’s closure with locals in the community, arguing that susceptible seniors in the lower-cash flow neighborhood would not be able to fill significant prescriptions, Boston25 News documented.

Pressley slammed the pharmaceutical enterprise for not giving clients in the community adequate see. She accused Walgreens of becoming hypocritical in their determination to overall health equity. 

“Why was there no local community enter? No enough detect to buyers? And no transition resources to stop gaps in wellbeing treatment? Shame on you, Walgreens. Getting a web page with chatting points about wellness equity and underserved communities is not sufficient. Walgreens is a multi-billion-greenback company that desires to place their income in which their mouth is and prevent divesting from Black and brown communities,” she said.

BOSTON Officers ACCUSE WALGREENS OF ‘RACISM’ FOR CLOSING SOME Suppliers

Walgreens despatched Fox News Electronic a assertion, defending the retail store closure owing to various components. 

“We respect the fears about the closing of our store in Roxbury. As a end result of the present-day operating environment and our economic overall performance, we have had to make hard selections throughout our organization such as company headcount reductions, as very well as keep closures like Roxbury. Roxbury’s closure was due to several elements like the price tag of functioning, minimal prescription volume and very low reimbursement prices.”

Walgreens will transfer patient files and prescriptions to the nearest Walgreens a mile absent, and is offering absolutely free exact same-day shipping and delivery of prescriptions for 90 times, Boston25 documented.

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In 2022, Walgreens was accused of racism by Boston officers immediately after it shut three other retailers in primarily Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

At the time, the enterprise said “many variables are taken into account” when picking out to close a location, these kinds of as “the dynamics of the regional sector and changes in the getting behaviors of our sufferers and shoppers.”

The short article was current to include things like a statement from Walgreens.