NCAAP leader shames Walgreens for 'obligation' to close stores in crime-ridden Boston area

Community activists tried to shame a pharmacy chain into closing another store amid a spate of thefts, protesting the wrong problem.

“What are your expectations as a corporate citizen…”

(Video: WBZ)

Metropolitan areas across the country have borne the brunt of their soft-crime policies, as retailers have taken to locking up or packing merchandise for safer prospects elsewhere. Bracing for the impact of a permanent closing of local Walgreens in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, a former leader of the NCAAP criticized the company for putting its “funding” above the community.

“What is your obligation? What is your expectation as a corporate citizen to do what is right for these communities beyond what is right just for your bottom line? Boston NCAAP former president Michael Curry, now an advocate for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, told WBZ.

“The communities where these pharmacies are closing are communities where people are desperately affected by disease. Two or three times higher rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease. Where life expectancy can be 15, 20 years less”, he had also lamented.

Ahead of a planned protest outside the location that will close Jan. 31, following three other store closings in 2022, the Rev. Miniard Culpepper of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church told the company, “ What happens to our seniors and our single parents who don't have a place to go to a Walgreens or another pharmacy near their home? And so we think that's insensitive, it's unfair.”

Community members had gathered outside the location Friday with signs that read “Hell No Walgreens” as they demanded the store remain open despite the crime's impact on operations.

“This Walgreens is critical, not only to this community, but to the surrounding communities and seniors.” affirmed Culpepper.

In its own statement published by the Boston Globe, Walgreens said: “With Walgreens' goal of being the independent partner of choice, not only in pharmacy but also in health care where we can improve health care, reduce costs and help patients, we need the right network of stores.”

The newspaper indicated that the next closest pharmacy is a CVS which is said to be a 15 minute walk from the Walgreens closing.

Activists' attempts to bully the company into staying open were backfired on social media, as users reacted to Culpepper and Curry demanding that Walgreens take an embarrassing swipe at leaders for not focusing on the degradation of the community.

“Why do they go to the shops and not to the community? Shouldn't people do what's right for their communities?” asked one user as Dilbert creator Scott Adams said: “I blame Walgreens for selfishly not wanting to lose money.”

“How about the leaders of the black communities start taking some responsibility for the actions of those who are causing all the havoc,” said another account. “You can't blame these companies for pulling out.”

Why are they targeting stores and not the community? Shouldn't people do what's right for their communities?

— The Appalachian Podcast (@GetOnTap) January 16, 2024

I blame Walgreens for selfishly not wanting to lose money. https://t.co/UwOHnJS6bE

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) January 17, 2024

How about the leaders of the black communities start taking some responsibility for the actions of those who are causing all the havoc?

You can't blame these companies for pulling out.

— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) January 16, 2024

Instead of getting mad at the businesses for leaving, why not get mad at the people who shoplift?

Gather people from the community to teach them respect, because it's obvious they don't know anything about it.

— JokerWonderWoman (@JokerWonderW) January 17, 2024

NAACP wants stores to just give away products and go out of business.

This is Marxism and the redistribution of wealth.

It's what lazy people think is right.

These adults are the result of growing up without a competent parent at home.

— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) January 16, 2024

They complain about the food/retail desserts they create!! pic.twitter.com/EyOYZJT5vZ

— Marie Isabella (@MarieIsabellaB) January 17, 2024

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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