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Walmart Is Finally Going To Stop Locking Up Black Haircare Products
The retail giant made the decision after renewed complaints went viral.
Walmart announced Wednesday that it will no longer lock up “multicultural” brands.
For years, the company has come under fire — including several discrimination lawsuits — for putting hair products traditionally purchased by Black consumers behind glass doors while general market products remained opened and accessible.
Two days after CBS Denver reporter Tori Mason shared a consumer’s disgust with the policy, a spokesperson told Mason that it is now a thing of the past.
“We have made the decision to discontinue placing these items in cases,” said the spokesperson of the policy which essentially criminalized Black haircare. “We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind at Walmart. We serve more than 140 million customers weekly, crossing all demographics, and are focused on meeting their needs while providing the best shopping experience at each store.”
The news comes in the wake of renewed Buy Black movements and consumers calling out brands for not respecting their Black dollar.
And, while the move is sure to be welcome news to most who shop in the 12 stores that still continued the policy, consumers notes that these complaints are not new.
In the last two years, two California residents — Jasmine Saunders and Essie Grundy — sued the company for discrimination for having to wait for products to be unlocked and held at a counter for purchase. Customers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Virginia have also accused locations of discrimination.
“It was embarrassing to feel a part of a group being singled out,” Saunders told NBC News.
“I can’t understand how they are getting away with this, and that people are continuing to accept this as normal and acceptable,” she said last year. “I’m a teacher, and I want the students in my class to know that this is not normal, it’s not OK, and they do not look like criminals.”
