January 30, 2024
On House Floor, Pressley Slams Walgreens for Closing Pharmacy in Roxbury
Warren Street Walgreens to Shutter This Week, Their Latest Closure in Boston’s Black & Latino Neighborhoods in Over a Year
“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.”
WASHINGTON — Today in a speech on the House floor, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) blasted Walgreens for closing their Warren Street pharmacy in Roxbury with no adequate notice to customers nor transition resources to prevent gaps in health care. Rep. Pressley’s remarks come with the pharmacy set to shutter this week and follow a letter she sent to Walgreens earlier this month with Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urging the company to reverse course.
The closure of the Warren Street location is the latest in a series of Walgreens closures in predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods in Massachusetts, including Roxbury, Mattapan, and Hyde Park, since 2022.
Footage of Rep. Pressley’s floor speech can be found here, and a transcript is below.
Transcript: On House Floor, Pressley Slams Walgreens for Closing Pharmacy in Roxbury
U.S. House of Representatives
January 30, 2023
Mr. Speaker, Walgreens is planning to close yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts 7th.
This time on Warren Street in Roxbury – a community that is 85% 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, 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.
That is why I joined with Senators Markey and Warren to demand answers from Walgreens’ CEO.
Why was there no community input? 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.
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