I’ve shopped at the Walgreens on Broadway in Oakland. Many times. It’s across the street from City Hall, around the block from the Federal Building, a few blocks down from the University of California Office of the President.
I’ve bought Zyrtec there for my allergies, readers the day I couldn’t find my glasses, vitamins, a lipstick that I still have never worn. But I’ve never bought toilet paper there, and if I was granted a five or ten minute free shopping spree, I wouldn’t bother with the paper products aisle.
I saw pictures from the recent protests in Oakland when there was some looting. We don’t need to debate who smashed the windows – antifa, a protester, the boogaloo bois?
I saw two photos of young black men in hoodies, maybe they were teens, emerging from Walgreens with their arms full. The loot under one arm of each of them was a fourpack or two of toilet paper. I was stunned.
My response is to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It’s been around since 1909.