On June 5th an employee, Avery Worrell, left his job at Martin's Supermarkets in Granger, IN when he was told to remove his Black Lives Matter face mask due to numerous customer complaints. Since this happened two other employees were sent home due to "uniform infractions" for having a mask that said Black Lives Matter. However, there is no official uniform policy that would prohibit wearing this mask by Martin's Supermarkets or SpartanNash (their corporate owners).

It appears as if Martin's Supermarkets would prefer to cater to their white customers instead of standing in solidarity with a movement whose goal is racial equality. Avery made a post about what happened to him that went viral. Martin's has been met with three protests at different locations since the first employee left his job. Martin's and SpartanNash's response to the viral post and the protest have been severely lacking. First, they made a statement saying they sent all of their employees a message about racial equality three days before Avery quit his job, however many employees never received this memo nor was it brought to their attention. When met with the first protest, Martin's and SpartanNash decided to only put out a sign they had about the incident after they had been met with protestors, if they truly stand with racial equality why did they not have it set out already. The next protest, organizers requested that Martin's Supermarkets send a representative to talk, and that request was ignored.

Protestors gathered in a car caravan that briefly drove around South Bend before gathering in front of the store and chanting for change and to begin a discussion. The third protest, Martin's and SpartanNash finally came to make a statement. They repeatedly said things like "Black Lives Matter" and "we stand against racial inequality", but their actions show different. They admitted they had no policy in place against wearing a Black Lives Matter mask. They say it was an unofficial policy that "no political statements" can be made at work. When they were challenged that Black Lives Matter is not a political movement, they doubled down on their stance that it is and that they were actually working to make an official policy further preventing messages like Black Lives Matter and Pride at the workplace. When questioned about the demographics of executives and store leadership representatives ignored the question. They said they welcomed and stood with protestors against racial inequality, yet instead of standing with them, a representative stood with people who heckled the protestors and called them criminals and looters while laughing alongside these hecklers.

The same representative later decided to critique the protestors and tell one of them "You're not black" when he was discussing issues of racial inequality. A month later, while they keep saying they stand against racial inequality, there have been no actual efforts to improve diversity in the workplace or combat racial bias, besides an OPTIONAL training. Furthermore, the actions of Martin's Supermarkets in the past show they have no interest in the black community as they decided to close their only store that was in a predominately black area. They say they want to be a place that welcomes all, but what they're really saying is they don't want to lose their racist white customers' money.

Protestors have come with four demands against Martin's Supermarket and SpartanNash:

1. They come out and publicly say Black Lives Matter whether it be a press release or a social media post

2. They update their uniform policy to allow support of human rights issues they claim they support like Black Lives Matter and Pride

3. Place a sign in all locations that states Black Lives Matter

4. Apologize to every employee they sent home due to supporting Black Lives Matter