Corporate Black Fatigue: Why Businesses are Fleeing Black Communities

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]So, we're here today simply because this is an example of when corporations abandon, especially black and brown neighborhoods. We're not here to beg Walgreens to stay. We're saying that their decision is the wrong decision.

[00:00:13]And in my opinion, it should be considered a first-degree corporate crime. Or better yet, corporate black fatigue. In Chicago's Chatham neighborhood, a Walgreens that has served the community for decades is closing. The Shy-Town politicians are basically calling it racist. And yet, they want the racists to stay.

[00:00:33]But is it racism? Or is it a predictable response to observable patterns of theft, property damage, or even worse, homicides happening at area Walgreens stores? Picking up a prescription turned deadly at a Walgreens in Chatham. CBS 2's Mugo Odigwe is live outside the area South Police Station, where detectives are investigating the shooting at the pharmacy drive-thru. Mugo?

[00:00:57]Good morning. This is something most of us have done at some point, waiting in line to pick up a prescription. But for a 27-year-old man, it ended with him shot in the head. Take a look. This is video from our non-stop news crews. This happened just after 10:00 in the Chatham neighborhood.

[00:01:13]Police say several drivers were waiting to pick up medicine at the Walgreens on State near 75th Street. That's when someone in a black car drove up and shot one of the drivers in line in the head, killing him. We spoke with a man who who is also waiting at the Walgreens drive-thru.

[00:01:32]I pulled up to the window to pick up my prescriptions.

[00:01:35]And I heard like 16 shots.

[00:01:37]Right exactly behind me. So, I blew at the guy in front of me telling him to go.

[00:01:42]Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. 16 shots fired in a pharmacy drive-thru?

[00:01:47]We're seeing protesters scream about Walgreens picking up and leaving their neighborhood, but they never seem to mention the crime and bullets.

[00:01:56]They demand a redesign and innovation as if a new floor plan can stop a culture of widespread criminal activity.

[00:02:04]This is clearly corporate black fatigue and the media straight-up ignores it.

[00:02:10]Last year, this particular Walgreens lost $1 million. At a community town hall inside St. Mark's United Methodist Church Saturday morning, officials from Walgreens sat at the front while a few dozen people wanted to know why this location. Walgreens says theft there is at 16% four times the company average.

[00:02:29]Prescription volume fell 30% the last 5 years and pharmacy reimbursement rates are 25% below Walgreens' average.

[00:02:37]>> Lockboxes help us protect merchandise in the stores.

[00:02:41]Um a lot of times those lockboxes are getting destroyed. And that's a great cost to the company. They say Walgreens was spending about $400,000 a year for security guards in the store, but there were still attacks on store employees.

[00:02:55]We we have people jump across the counters uh because we do sell uh liquor behind the counter.

[00:03:01]Uh taking liquor, uh cigarettes, things of that um those that wears, you know, that wears down not just from the financial piece. I'm more so speaking from just endurance of that day in and day out. All across Chicago, businesses are beefing up security just to survive. But in Chatham, even tactical guards aren't enough. And still, protesters claim this is racism because stores in white neighborhoods like Andersonville stay open. Now, you going to tell me that racism motivated?

[00:03:34]Okay?

[00:03:35]I mean, you didn't close nothing in Andersonville.

[00:03:37]>> Thomas Sowell's writings on perceived racism have explained what's happening.

[00:03:41]He said that it's not the race of the customers, it's the cost per transaction. In Andersonville, Walgreens doesn't have to spend $400,000 a year on tactical security just to keep their cashiers from being assaulted. In a culture that tolerates a hoodlum element, as Sol puts it, the law-abiding majority pays a crime tax that eventually drives every business away from the crime-filled community.

[00:04:07]But, somehow the people want to go to town hall meetings and make Walgreens out to be the bad guys.

[00:04:13]Not one of them mentioned the criminals.

[00:04:16]These town hall meetings you all are fake. Fake. I want you all even today with this 87th and Cottage Grove Walgreens situation. Do you all understand that that decision had already been made?

[00:04:29]>> Mhm.

[00:04:30]They said today that their lease would be up in June. I think they said June 4th. And then they're going to be moved out by August. That means when these public officials put up these flyers, started these press conferences to get the people all worked up and all this and that, they already knew this was not going to be reversed.

[00:04:50]>> Right. But, they have to do something to keep the older people voting, to keep them running for the vote. And that's what we talked about earlier, why they keep having them in churches.

[00:05:00]>> Churches. What we call them elder abuse.

[00:05:02]>> This is elder abuse at this point. The politicians are gaslighting these elders. They use the church as a stage to perform outrage while refusing to address the stealing problem.

[00:05:13]They talk about what Walgreens owes the South Side, but they offer zero protection for the workers or the merchandise.

[00:05:21]Businesses don't just up and leave these areas. Often they never come to begin with. Why would they? If your business model requires bulletproof glass and you still have people getting shot in the head in the drive-thru, who would want to do business under those circumstances?

[00:05:38]And we're seeing this happen with pharmacies in many large cities. It's not just a Chicago problem.

[00:05:44]This has become a common sight at drug stores around New York City. Isles and Isles of products under lock and key.

[00:05:54]Customer service needed in the dental department. Shampoos, deodorants, uh what I'm also seeing is that a lot of stuff is like not even on on the shelf.

[00:06:03]They have it locked up because sometimes they get boosters that come in there and steal their stuff. Boosters are people who steal products to resell them. Then you notice down the street there's a whole bunch of I don't know if they're stealing it from here or they're stealing from another place to sell it here. We've spoken to several managers at various drugstores around New York City. Though none would go on camera, all tell us they've seen an increase in thefts. The NYPD says as of September 12th this year there have been more than 26,000 complaints for shoplifting retail theft in New York City compared to more than 20,000 for the same time period last year. The National Retail Federation says most retailers blame the increase on the pandemic with New York ranking fourth for organized retail crime in the past year. Many point to changes in sentencing guidelines and the growth of online marketplaces. The National Association of Shoplifting Prevention spoke with CBS 2 back in July after several big steals on Long Island.

[00:07:00]Shoplifting steals from all of us. They it steals tax dollars. CVS says in part locking product is a measure of last resort and that different products can experience different theft rates even within the same category and product protection decisions are data-driven based on the individual losses at each store. And it's not just a New York City issue. San Francisco increased its police department's retail crime unit.

[00:07:24]As for New York, some stores have security guards. Employees are told not to engage shoplifters and customers don't blame them. You're not paid to be a cop. Until something changes many say allow extra time when shopping to allow for the unlocking of all your items.

[00:07:40]From New York to San Francisco, we're seeing the exact same pattern. Soft on crime policies implemented by progressive leadership have basically legalized theft. By raising the threshold for felony prosecution and eliminating cash bail, these cities have signaled to boosters and criminals that these stores are their personal playgrounds.

[00:08:03]When the law refuses to protect property, the crime tax becomes so high that the law-abiding majority is left with nothing but boarded up windows and empty lots. We have to learn to do for self. Is that correct? Do I hear witness on that? Don't wait for others to come back and expect them to do for us. He's right, but doing for self means cleaning up the culture from within, not protesting a company that's hemorrhaging money due to crime.

[00:08:31]You can't protest your way out of a corporate financial statement math problem, and you can't shame a company into staying in a crime zone, either.

[00:08:41]Until the community stops calling the consequences of crime racism and starts addressing the culture that causes the crime, these communities will turn into prescription deserts, and the neighborhood people will have to travel out of the community to get their meds.

[00:08:57]So, to quote Thomas Sowell once again, it's both intellectually and emotionally easier to blame high prices on those who collect them rather than on those who caused them. The people causing these problems are nearly always ignored by these people who organize the protests.

[00:09:14]That's why the crime has grown out of control, because many people in and outside of these black communities keep pointing the blame outside of the community and not directly at the real problem, crime. It's so easy for them to sit and call Walgreens racists, but maybe, just maybe, they should stop and consider culture.

[00:09:37]I'm She Brown and I'm out.

[00:09:41]No more yada yada yada.