Adam Johnson wants readers to know there is more than what they can see in trends related to crime and public safety. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Johnson referenced a viral video of a man casually stealing from a Walgreens drugstore and riding away with little intervention from the store’s security personnel.

According to Johnson, the local reporter’s footage is the kind of video designed to “offend the basic notions of law and order.” As such, it’s received plenty of mainstream news coverage, both nationally and internationally. And yet, Johnson asserts that the maximum value of whatever items were stolen from that one Walgreens store pales in comparison to the amount that Walgreens has stolen from its employees.

In November of 2020, Walgreens settled a class action wage theft lawsuit where the company was accused of engaging in practices that resulted in employees not being paid money they were entitled to. Employees were routinely not paid for meal breaks (or denied breaks altogether), subjected to mandatory off-the-clock security checks, and had their wage statements falsified. These unethical business practices by Walgreens management deprived a group of employees in California of millions of earned wages. Johnson said, “But because it was spread out over years, and the victims were disproportionately people of color - and the suspects faceless executives - it went virtually unnoticed.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Deeds of wickedness done in secret are not hidden from God. Sin is wrong whether it's done by a white-collar executive or a teenage vagrant. On the contrary, God calls each of us to walk with integrity and righteousness.