D.C. Community Leader Opposes Wal-Mart Because It Will Cause Kids To Steal

Doug Mataconis · · 5 comments

There have been plenty of arguments advanced by opponents of Wal-Mart’s entry into the District of Columbia, but this one has to be the most condescending:

Brenda Speaks, a Ward 4 ANC commissioner, actually urged blocking construction of the planned store in her ward at Georgia and Missouri avenues NW partly because of that risk. Addressing a small, anti-Wal-Mart rally at City Hall on Monday, Speaks said young people would get criminal records when they couldn’t resist the temptation to steal.

Speaks isn’t alone, a local resident said pretty much the same thing:

“There’ll probably be a lot of shoplifting going on. They’ll need a lot of security,” Terriea Sutton, 35, said.

That’s a pretty sad indictment of the kids in your neighborhood, lady.