For many years, the Walton family has owned the state of Arkansas. Their collective wealth exceeds $150 billion, yet Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the nation. All that money, and very little has trickled down. Perhaps you have seen the ads on national television about how much Walmart cares about its neighbors. The people of Little Rock know better.
Veteran journalist Cathy Frye reports on a dramatic series of events that occurred yesterday. Peaceful protestors closed down four Walmart stores in Little Rock.
Frye writes:
But why? Why close Walmarts?
To these anguished pleas, I offer this by way of explanation.
Because the Waltons need to understand that it’s time to relinquish their iron-clad grip on the state of Arkansas, on its economy, and on its public schools.
I worked for three years for a Walton-funded “nonprofit” organization called the Arkansas “Public” School Resource Center. If you scroll down this blog, you will find numerous posts about how APSRC operates. Its mission is to destabilize, deconstruct and resegregate public schools. It also is working with other Walton nonprofits to create a private-school voucher system in Arkansas.
The Waltons have put themselves, their politics, and their wealth above what is good for all Arkansans.
So here we are, in the midst of a pandemic and the Waltons are using this public-health crisis and the resulting school closures to retain and even strengthen their control over the Little Rock School District…Protesters shut down Walmarts because those stores symbolize everything that is wrong in Arkansas for those who are marginalized and oppressed.
You can’t put lipstick on a pig. The Waltons are the avaricious family that destroys communities and Main Street across America. Good on Little Rock for calling them out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Somewhat off-topic, but related. For those of you concerned about Defund the Police, please watch this, as Peter Greene asks, all the way to the end: https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2020/06/john-oilver-and-defund-police.html
Thank goodness they didn’t loot and then torch the stores. For every store that is looted into bankruptcy, for every building or car that is set afire represents countless votes for Trump. Keep up the peaceful protests and unionize the Walmart workers.
I agree. If civil unrest continues, Trump will declare the Democrats weak on law and order. He will try to turn it into a Democratic failure and not his own coddling law enforcement policies.
The Waltons’ out sized wealth has allowed them to control public policy in Arkansas for decades. Despite some minor increments in wages, Walmart continues to use the American taxpayer to underwrite what Walmart does not provide for its employees. Walmart employees routinely need Section 8 housing, food stamps, and Medicaid, and it is paid for by the rest of us.
Many other profitable companies keep wages low while they use public social safety nets for additional services. Jeff Bezos of Amazon recently said he supports Black Lives Matter. This move is a hypocritical attempt to get positive publicity. If he really cared about black lives, he would pay a living wage and offer healthcare to his employees.https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/opinion/2017/04/08/walmart-tax-every-american-taxpayer-pays/100188002/
It is reprehensible that the white supremacists from Bentonville have asserted such tyrannical control over Little Rock Public Schools. Last December, I wrote a piece detailing how they took over the district within months of a black majority school board being elected: https://tultican.com/2019/12/02/wealthy-white-elites-attacking-little-rock-school-district/
The only people that shop at Walmart should only be Trump’s deplorable supporters that refuse to shelter in place, wear a mask, and maintain a space of six-feet or more when in public.
The people who shop at Walmart are poor and the Walton family uses the money earned off these people against them.
Right. The Waltons became billionaires by selling cheap Chinese stuff to poor and working-class people, both outsourcing their jobs and using their money to destroy what belongs to the people. And, wrecking communities by killing mom-and-pop stores, then hiring them as clerks. If a Walmart doesn’t make money, the Waltons close it and move on, leaving devastated small towns behind, with empty Main Streets.
The Waltons also close any Wal-Mart store where the employees attempt to form or join a labor union.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/union-walmart-shut-5-stores-over-labor-activism/
The WAltons also sue to reduce their property taxes, which denies revenue to public schools. They are bad corporate citizens.
Wow! This is quite enlightening!