This week Target re-opened its store that was nearly gutted by out-of-control rioters in May, yet, for some reason, it’s the store’s brass doing the apologizing.
As the scores of people who looted Target on May 27 continue to enjoy their 4K TVs, air fryers, new sheets, and baby clothes stolen in their “grief” over George Floyd, Target is saying mea culpas to the mob for not being woke enough. George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody sparked riots across the country. Rioters looted and burned down the city’s third police precinct and then attacked the Target store, Autozone, and Wendy’s nearby.
The woke crowd claims that looting is a victimless crime, but tell that to the people who worked and shopped at Target who have been deprived of a paycheck and a place to shop for months now – during the pandemic economic gut punch.
flooding target is good for the environment pic.twitter.com/9OAyW7nzJl
— taylr (@taylr) May 28, 2020
So clueless is the Left on this issue that The New York Times has only now admitted that, yes, looting is no bueno for the economy.
The out-of-control mob smashed windows and breached the Target, stealing nearly everything in sight – including store shelves. The entire store was picked over. What was left was destroyed by fire sprinklers.
gotta throw the whole target away pic.twitter.com/q9iEnYJ6DT
— taylr (@taylr) May 28, 2020
In all, 132 people were arrested for Minneapolis rioting. The police department was largely defunded afterward and the crime rate has predictably skyrocketed. Resources for police are “hemorrhaging” and the “city is bleeding,” says the police chief. Residents are begging for more police.
Bloomberg reports, with no citation, that before the riots, the looted store was referred to by locals as “Tar-ghetto.” To make amends for this epithet, the publication reports the store is re-opening “with black shoppers in mind” to help combat “systemic racism.”
It’s not exactly clear why this specific store was targeted; protesters originally headed there for milk to relieve the pain from being tear gassed. But in rebuilding, Target realized the surrounding neighborhood had never been asked point-blank whether the store that’s been there since 1976 was serving it well. It wasn’t.
The litany of complaints was long. And even though a remodel in 2018 fixed earlier perceptions the store was dirty, poorly stocked and a bit of an afterthought, some White residents in the Longfellow neighborhood would still drive to a different Target instead, derogatorily referring to the location — and its customers — as “Tar-ghetto.”
Bloomberg reports that Target’s Minneapolis headquarters awarded the contract to rebuild the gutted store to a construction company run by a female Somali immigrant. As a result of the reimagining, the store carries more spices used by the Somali community, has moved the pharmacy to the front to make it easier for the elderly and drug-seeking robbers, and made sure every single window is outfitted with shutters to keep the looters out in an emergency.
They’ll also be more aware of their racist way of “catering to White shoppers.”
Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief diversity and inclusion officer and vice president of human resources, acknowledges that the company has a reputation of catering to White shoppers. She noted Target has recently opened some small-format stores in non-suburban communities to expand access to the retailer. And Target wants to use its scale to build more relationships with Black entrepreneurs by stocking their products, she said, though Target hasn’t made a commitment to sign the 15% Pledge, a promise to fill shelves with that percentage of products made by Black-owned brands.
Assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, Stephanie Creary, told Bloomberg that Target has been racist and now needs to be able to “reduce the impact of racism created from its operations.”
Victoria Taft is the host of “The Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft” where you can hear her series on “Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.” Find it at your favorite podcast outlets. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Parler @VictoriaTaft
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