Crazy Dem Rep Pressley Accuses Walgreens of Racism

But, Isn't Discriminating Against Thieves A Good Thing?

Mentally challenged Democratic lawmaker Rep. Ayanna Pressley–who is also a member of the radical left Squad headed up by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (a.k.a. AOC)–accused Walgreens of "racial discrimination" after the corporate office opted to shut down a store in Boston.

Pressley took the House floor and threw a tizzy about Walgreens’ move to pull out of the predominantly Black and Hispanic Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. It isn’t the first store to go under in the area. Four other Walgreens stores have closed in Boston in less than two years.

"Mr. Speaker, Walgreens is planning to close yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts 7th,” Pressley scolded. “This time on Warren Street in Roxbury, a community that is 85 percent Black and Latino. This closure is a part of a larger trend of abandoning low-income communities like the previous closures in Mattapan and Hyde Park, both in the Massachusetts 7th."

"When a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood,” Pressley continued, “they disrupt the entire community and they take with them baby formula, diapers, asthma inhalers, life-saving medications, and, of course, jobs. These closures are not arbitrary and they are not innocent. They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination."

Pressley went on to chide Walgreens for not announcing the closure to customers quickly enough and accused the company of being hypocrites about their commitment to health equity.

"Why was there no community input?” lectured Pressley, “No adequate notice to customers? And no transition resources to prevent gaps in health care? Shame on you, Walgreens. Having a website with talking points about health equity and underserved communities is not enough. Walgreens is a multi-billion-dollar corporation that needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop divesting from Black and brown communities."

The Corporate Response

Walgreens defended the closure in a statement sent to Fox Digital. "We appreciate the concerns regarding the closing of our store in Roxbury.”

They appreciate being called racists?

“As a result of the current operating environment and our financial performance,” the statement continued in typical corporate-speak, “we have had to make difficult decisions across our business including corporate headcount reductions, as well as store closures like Roxbury. Roxbury’s closure was due to several factors including the cost of operating, low prescription volume, and low reimbursement rates.”

Considering similar store closures by Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, and Home Depot, the corporate-speak translates into Walgreens closing the Roxbury store due to crime.

Pressley–unless she is more oblivious than a stillborn parasite–knows this. Why, then, would she go on a rant about a store closing its doors because petty criminals are robbing it blind?

The answer: it's all she knows how to do. Sowing division is the go-to move of Leftists. Call them whatever you like–Progressives, Marxists, Socialists, or whatever moniker they decide to adopt–they all use the same playbook.

To outsiders, the Left’s playbook appears as a thick tome filled with arcane knowledge, complex equations, and indecipherable symbols (some call them doodles). In reality, there are only a few hard and fast plays 1) Sow Division; 2) Manipulate the rules; 3) Control the narrative.

Sowing division is the linchpin. Without it, manipulating the rules and controlling the narrative becomes much more difficult. Leftist lawmakers like Pressley–who don't have the wherewithal to create a narrative without first sowing division–are willing to defy logic so they have a narrative to work with.

The Bottom Line

Attempting to frame Walgreens as racist because they opted to close a store due to high crime is to play the victim card. It’s like playing an ace in the hole when all the aces have already been played. It’s an old card magician’s trick and Pressley isn't very good at making it look magic or new.

It's not going to work on a corporate giant like Walgreens. The only corporate reality is the bottom line, and they count the cards. Throw in the fact that closing stores in high-crime areas appears to have paid off for Target, and there is little to no chance that Pressley’s rant is going to have any impact on the store closing in Roxbury.

Closing stores in high-crime areas is a good corporation, but it comes at a price. “As theft continues to be an issue that plagues America’s retailers, those who track the shopping landscape say it’s inevitable more stores in crime-prone areas may be forced to close,” observed Charles Passy of Marketwatch.

As more stores close in problem areas, the retail landscape will change along with it. Some areas, according to Passy, might turn into “retail deserts.” This means the people who live in these areas won’t have any place to shop for necessities.

Natural droughts cause people to migrate, and a retail drought will likely do the same. Who will Pressley rail against when people opt to move out of cities run by Leftists who are soft on crime and then point the finger at retailers by calling them criminals?

Sowing division to create a narrative at odds with reality may cause enough confusion in the short term for Leftists to manipulate and consolidate power. It won’t last.

Reality always bites back. For corporate entities like Walgreens, reality is the bottom line. Whackos like Pressley who claim to be helping minorities are in reality hurting them. That’s the irony that is always trailing the Left in a noxious cloud.