“Racism has no place here. We support the Black community.”
That’s what a sign hanging from the top of the entrance at a Whole Foods store read, according to a Twitter user who uploaded the pic. You’d think it would be an affirming message for its Black customers and makes clear that grocery chain will not tolerate any anti-Black nonsense.
Then, of course, Twitter did what it does and dragged the expensive grocery store chain over its hypocrisy. The user who uploaded the photo quote tweeted it and said, “This shit is deranged.”
One user, @mersrulesworld_, responded to the tweet saying, ”I applied there , walked in and they looked at me like I had three heads.”
Another person tweeted out a link to an article that pointed out how Jeff Bezos, who owns Whole Foods, says he supports Black Lives Matter, but his company has sold facial recognition software to police departments around the country. As The Root reported recently, this technology harms Black communities.
It is not clear where exactly this Whole Foods store is located, but it honestly doesn’t matter.
The dragging, mostly in quote tweets, are plentiful. @Wonderbreaddddd said, “Lmaooo Whole Foods existing in only predominantly white neighborhoods is racism in itself pls.”
@Sunagakure_Kage said “Lol so is Whole Foods gonna plant themselves in Black communities without causing a snow ball of gentrification??? Nope,” and @f0lake wrote “Now when i went to whole foods folks was staring at me like i was breaking segregation rules.”
Whole Foods has been criticized for its issues with racism. For example, stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts last year prohibited its workers from wearing shirts with the phrase, “racism has no place here.” More than two dozen former and current workers lost a discrimination lawsuit against the grocery chain earlier this year after they claim they were not allowed to wear face coverings with Black Lives Matter on them; the workers are still pursuing legal options. And a Black man in Maine is suing the company after he claims that he was not interviewed for a supervisory role at the Portland store.