Twisted Logic: Walmart Goes Easy on Guns, But Is Still Holding Black Beauty Products Under Lock and Key

On Aug. 4, an El Paso, Texas, Walmart was the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in the history of this country, sparking renewed debate about whether the retailer should still be in the gun business. This, after its Beavercreek, Ohio, location earned the dubious distinction of being the site of the 2014…

On Aug. 4, an El Paso, Texas, Walmart was the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in the history of this country, sparking renewed debate about whether the retailer should still be in the gun business. This, after its Beavercreek, Ohio, location earned the dubious distinction of being the site of the 2014 killing of John Crawford III, a 22-year-old black father shot on sight for daring to pick up and examine one of the storeโ€™s openly displayed BB guns. Notably, Walmart claims to be in support of โ€œcommon-sense gun control,โ€ according to CNN. But despite the tragedies, the retailer has no plans to stop selling guns.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

Instead, Walmart apparently considers black beauty consumers the true menace to society; the company continues to face racial discrimination allegations as a result of some locationsโ€™ practice of keeping black beauty productsโ€”and only black beauty productsโ€”in locked glass cases.

โ€œI felt as if the second I stepped into that aisle, that it had already been determined Iโ€™m a potential thief, as well as anyone else who looks like me,โ€ Jasmine Saunders, a shopper at a Walmart in Riverside, Calif.,ย told NBC News in a report published Monday. โ€œIt was embarrassing to feel a part of a group being singled out,โ€ she continued. โ€œI left my cart just sitting in an aisle.โ€

Saundersโ€™ frustration echoes that of Essie Grundy of Perris, Calif., who filed suit against Walmart in January of 2018 after a similar experience, also in Riverside County. Like Saunders, Grundyโ€™s suit described being forced to wait until a store associate unlocked the case, then having her selected items held at the register prior to payment. The irony is that this should happen in California, which in July became the first state in the nation to pass the CROWN Act, legislation specifically created to end discrimination against black hair textures and styles. But as NBC notes, Walmart has garnered similar complaints on Long Island, N.Y., and even a petition against store management in Virginia.

โ€œOne poor girl was trying to look up products on her phone because you canโ€™t even pick the products up to read directions, ingredients, et cetera,โ€ Saunders told NBC News. Upon visiting a second Walmart location, she said she encountered the same issue, this time accompanied by a sign that read โ€œReducing theft helps us all by keeping prices low. Security cameras in use.โ€

While Walmart didnโ€™t comment on NBCโ€™s story, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Grundy in her pending suit, disputes the retailersโ€™ stanceโ€”as well as the party line given by a Walmart employee Saunders spoke toโ€”that the security measures arenโ€™t racialized, but simply in place to protect the items stolen most frequently.

โ€œWe disagree,โ€ Allred told NBC. โ€œWe believe that if Walmart is concerned about security, it should lock up the shelves of all products.โ€

And really, if security is Walmartโ€™s greatest concern, donโ€™t they have more dangerous products to worry about?

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.