Walgreens is closing yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts 7th — this time on Warren Street in Roxbury — a community that is 85% Black and Latino.
This is their fourth closure in a Black community in Boston since 2022. And I wanted to know why.
Why was there no community input? No adequate notice to customers? And no transition resources to prevent gaps in health care? Why does Walgreens keep closing locations in predominantly Black, Latino, and low-income communities?
Let me tell you — this closure is not arbitrary or innocent. What we’re witnessing is part of a larger and damning trend of Walgreens abandoning low-income communities that has disruptive, life-threatening impacts. And as a result, residents in Roxbury are left without access to medication and other essentials.
This is unconscionable and unacceptable. So, alongside Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, I sent a letter to the Walgreens CEO demanding answers and urging him to reverse course.
Walgreens claims that it is seeking to expand its efforts to provide health care. But that’s clearly not the case, and their lip service about equity won’t fly. When a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood, there are devastating ripple effects. For the new mother who depends on baby formula and diapers. The student-athlete who needs their asthma inhaler. The grandmother who needs her life-saving insulin. These closures disrupt the entire community.
On top of this, people in Roxbury who use public transportation now run the risk of significantly longer travel times to pharmacies and grocery stores to access the life-saving medication they need. And this could be the difference between life or death.
I am outraged at these closures, and you should be too. As a multi-billion-dollar corporation, Walgreens needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop divesting from Black and brown communities.
Let me make it plain: our communities deserve a health care system that truly works for people and their families. That allows people to easily access the life-saving medication and essentials they need. That addresses the legacy of health care disparities Black and brown communities have historically faced. And that invests in these communities to preserve the health of the people who live there.
I’ll never stop fighting for a just and equitable health care system. And I hope you won’t either. Because the power of the people has always been greater than the people in power.
Yours in service,
Ayanna
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