For those who enjoy flexing their debit card, today marks the much-awaited occasion of Black Friday; a traditionally American shopping day where retailers offer significant discounts ahead of the Christmas period. However, in the wake of a Missouri grand jury’s decision to not indict Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, the meaning of this day will not be the same.
The Justice for Michael Brown Leadership Coalition has suggested a ‘No Justice, No Profit’ protest movement against Black Friday to show the power of their movement and encourgaed business owners to pressure for change. This movement has gained ground on social media, with hashtags including ‘#BoycottBlackFriday’, ‘#NotOneDime’, and ‘#HandsUpDontSpend’ (in reference to the chant of ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot which caught on during the Ferguson protests), trending across the twittersphere. Black Friday is incontestably the biggest shopping day in the American retail calendar, with some 247 million shoppers spending around $59.1 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend last year. The movement hopes that law enforcement and elected officials will pay closer attention to their case if the retail sector becomes unsettled this year from the boycott.
Opponents have raised concerns over the extent to which businesses would be able to influence law enforcement change, or whether even boycotting smaller businesses would achieve the movement’s aim of improving race relations between police and minority communities. However, economic acitvism and boycotts for social change have proved effective historically. Most notably, the desegregation of buses in America was achieved following the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott prompted by Rosa Park’s arrest. Even last month, soft drinks company SodaStream moved one of their factories to southern Israel from a settlement in the country’s West Bank after consumers boycotted their products.
Supporters of the movement so far have included celebrities Michael B. Jordan and Isaiah Washington, as well as Missouri pastor Rev. Spencer Lamar Booker, who recently told The Independent that, “no matter how convoluted his other’s attempts to make an argument, an illegal act was committed called murder.”. It remains to be seen whether the boycott will have a significant impact on Black Friday sales, but regardless, it is part of a larger movement campaigning for justice; for Michael Brown, and for other victims of police brutality.
Sources: refinery29.com; theindependent.co.uk; msnbc.com; russiatoday.com; ibtimes.co.uk.