On April 12, Travonsha Ferguson, a pregnant Black woman in Nashville, Tennessee, was shot by a Walgreens employee in the parking lot when followed her to her car to confront her about alleged shoplifting. Ferguson, 24, was taken to a local hospital where she had an emergency C-section. She and her child remain in critical but stable condition since last Thursday.

This violence could have been avoided.It occurred during Walgreens’ own efforts inflaming right-wing conspiracy theories about shoplifters and a retail crime wave. In the last couple of years,Walgreens executives publicly blamed the closure of five San Francisco locations on retail theft — repeatedly calling for more policing and increased store security and surveillance systems. A Walgreens’ chief financial officer walked back these claims earlier this year after data showed that the stores in question had reported only seven incidents of shoplifting since 2021.

The facts, however, did not stop conservatives from using Walgreens’ original overblown statement in their racist arguments regarding crime. Right-wing groups such as The Heritage Foundation cited Walgreens as proof that crime is not only on the rise, but also blamed it on post-George Floyd criminal justice reforms. This idea, also known as the “Minneapolis Effect,” connects Black activism with criminality, playing on a centuries’-old myth that paints Black people as inherently criminal. 

This association has consequences for Black Americans who continue to be the main targets of racial profiling in retail settings. A 2021 report found that more than 90% of Black American shoppers say they have experienced racial profiling. Black customers experience profiling at such rates that the term "Shopping While Black" was coined to describe the phenomenon. Racial profiling caused by a biased perception of who is more likely to commit a crime causes stress, embarrassment and negative feelings for Black customers. Racial profiling harms Black people the most. We also cannot allow armed retail employees to act on every suspicion of shoplifting.

The recent situation in Nashville needs to be understood within this larger framework. Overblown claims about a jump in shoplifting from Walgreens itself laid the foundation for this employee to feel he needed to take matters into his own hands. This incident signals a needlessly violent escalation that seriously harmed a woman and her unborn child.

Walgreens can take steps to prevent this from happening again as a private company. Although Tennessee law allows the open carrying of a weapon, companies such as Walgreens can still take action and prohibit firearms in their stores. We call on Walgreens to ban firearms from their stores, including firearms carried by employees and security guards, and to provide regular training to stop employees from initiating violent confrontations.

Here is the Petition:

Dear Walgreens Executives,

On April 12th, a Walgreens employee confronted two women  suspected of shoplifting in the parking lot. The employee would then go on to shoot one of the women multiple times during the conflict. The woman was seven months pregnant and taken to the hospital in critical condition. This incident could have been avoided. Walgreens itself has fed into the harmful narrative that not only is retail theft on the rise, it can be blamed on the criminal justice reforms won after 2020. Overstated claims of shoplifting created an environment where the employee felt the need to confront the women. The possession of a firearm unnecessarily escalated the situation. Over 90% of Black Americans report being racially profiled while shopping. If every employee responded with hostility to suspected shoplifters, Black people would disproportionately be impacted. 

For these reasons, I am calling on Walgreens to ban firearms from their stores, including firearms carried by employees and security guards, and to provide regular training to stop employees from initiating violent confrontations. Shopping while Black is not a threat and these steps will ensure an incident like this can not happen again.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]