Walmart is joining the list of predominantly white corporations trying to seemingly make things right amid the growing outrage of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The megastore announced that it will stop putting “multicultural hair care and beauty products” in locked cases. The practice was in place in “about a dozen” of the 4,700 stores in the country.
If you’re a naturalista and ever purchased hair care products, then you most likely experienced a store associate unlocking the item for you and taking it behind the register with them until you checkout.
Walmart customer Judah Bell called the process “humiliating” and noticed that the policy is enforced in more “urban, less affluent areas.” “In my neighborhood Walmart, you have to go find somebody and then if they don’t have the key, they have to find somebody, so you’re just standing there waiting, sometimes for as long as 10 to 15 minutes,” Bell said.
Bell explained that when she drove a couple more miles out, the items weren’t locked away. She documented the arrangement of the shopping aisles in two separate stores in different neighborhoods and noted that other essential items like cold medicine, children’s medicine, body wash, and cosmetics were also locked away.
Walmart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez told NBC News that the company is “sensitive to the issue and understands the concerns” and would be implementing the change in policy “as soon as possible.”
“As a retailer serving millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds, Walmart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. Like other retailers, the cases were put in place to deter shoplifters from some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products,” Lopez said.
