Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) blasted Walgreens Pharmacy for closing locations in minority communities, following the company’s announcement that it will close its location in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

The “Squad” Democrat said on the House floor on Tuesday that she joined with Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to “demand answers” from Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth.

“Shame on you, Walgreens,” Pressley said. “Walgreens is a multibillion-dollar corporation that needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop divesting from black and brown communities.”

“Having a website with talking points about health equity and underserved communities is not enough,” she said.

Walgreens cited local market dynamics and the changing buying habits of customers for recent closures.

Addressing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Pressley attacked Walgreens for “planning to close yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts [7th District],” in a community “that is 85% black and Latino.”

“When a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood, they disrupt the entire community and they take with them baby formula, diapers, asthma inhalers, life-saving medications, and of course, jobs,” Pressley said.

“These closures are not arbitrary, and they are not innocent. They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination,” she said. 

She claimed the closure is part of a wider trend of “abandoning low-income communities,” mentioning previous closures within Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, including the Mattapan and Hyde Park locations.

A spokesperson for Markey referred to a Wednesday press release expressing similar sentiments in response to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment, stating that the closure “continues the trend of corporations abandoning Black and Brown and immigrant communities,” and calling on Walgreens to stop the closure of its locations in minority neighborhoods.

Pressley, Markey, and Warren previously sent a Jan. 19 letter to Walgreens “urging the company not to close its location at 416 Warren Street in Roxbury.”

“These closures are occurring within the larger legacy of historic racial and economic discrimination that has created significant pharmacy and food deserts and lack of access to transportation in these neighborhoods,” the letter claims.

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The closure went as planned, and the location officially shut down at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Walgreens, Pressley, and Warren for comment.