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 storeโs openly displayed BB guns. Notably, Walmart claims to be in support of โcommon-sense gun control,โ according to CNN. But despite the tragedies, the retailer has no plans to stop selling guns.
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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 productsโand only black beauty productsโin locked glass cases.
โI felt as if the second I stepped into that aisle, that it had already been determined Iโm 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. โIt was embarrassing to feel a part of a group being singled out,โ she continued. โI 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, Grundyโs 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.
โOne poor girl was trying to look up products on her phone because you canโt 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 โReducing theft helps us all by keeping prices low. Security cameras in use.โ
While Walmart didnโt comment on NBCโs story, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Grundy in her pending suit, disputes the retailersโ stanceโas well as the party line given by a Walmart employee Saunders spoke toโthat the security measures arenโt racialized, but simply in place to protect the items stolen most frequently.
โWe disagree,โ Allred told NBC. โWe believe that if Walmart is concerned about security, it should lock up the shelves of all products.โ
And really, if security is Walmartโs greatest concern, donโt they have more dangerous products to worry about?
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