A Walmart in Pembroke Pines had an arrangement with the administration at Coconut Palm Elementary School in Miramar for 75 students to sing ‘God Bless America’ on the evening of 9/11 to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11/01. The store manager, identified as Frank, was involved in the agreement and the performance was part of Walmart’s ‘I Will’ campaign.
The 75 students arrived at the store that night clad in red, white and blue with their parents and teachers. The manager on duty that night made them all leave the store and informed them that Frank had been fired from his job. The manager on duty told the parents that the performance was a ‘liability’ and he even called police so the group could be escorted from the premises after it tried to sing outside the store.
“I just thought that it wasn’t right and I just thought that she should have let it go because it was September 11th,” student Adriana DiSciascio, said.
Pembroke Pines Police spokesperson Alex De La Paz said, “Some of the officers felt that it wasn’t a police issue.”
On Tuesday, Walmart issued an apology and even invited the students to return to the store to sing.
“We regret this happened and apologize to the students, parents and the school for this experience. Unfortunately, this was a situation of miscommunication, and it should have been handled differently
Why am I not surprised by this? Walfart… oh, excuse me, Walmart has a reputation for turning potential customers from their stores and having a ‘good deed’ performed on their premises?? Heaven forbid… I don’t think an apology cuts it; what are they REALLY sorry for? The bad publicity is my guess. I don’t know why that should bother them though; they don’t have a good reputation anyway. My advice (even though it was not solicited) choose an AMERICAN store next time kids, WM may be US ‘owned’, but it ain’t US (or ANY country) loyal… *khrys…