The Economic Case to Boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday

There has been a lot of promoting and debating boycotting shopping on Black Friday, and I would add Cyber Monday. This is because of the Grand Jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, in the shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri.  Black Friday is given this moniker from the business metaphor of "being in the black." 

Being in the black means when a business it is profitable (red lnk on a financial ledger indicates expenses and losses while black ink is associated with profits.)  Boycotting throughout the country to me is a better response than rioting and looting out of feelings of anger and frustration in my opinion.

I feel Blacks and other people of conscience should Boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday and support Black Business and neighborhood businesses those days. We can't just be just against something we have to be for something as well.

While some say a two day boycott will make little economic impact to make a difference I just don't agree.  I feel this is the start of a much larger movement than even Michael Brown, and Ferguson.

I feel this boycott is the beginning of a movement to stop the militarization of police departments and a occupationist attitude by the managers of these institutions.  The brutality of police departments and the expansion of the prison industrial complex for profit has to be stopped.

Furthermore, it will help Blacks and those in poorer communities and inner cities look to develop economic, education, and technological initiatives to further community development. With the Internet and social media we can use ecommerce payment systems to raise money and awareness to fund community owned and cooperative businesses.

Hopefully the two day boycott is symbolic and sparks a different mentality towards more reinvesting in our community. If you unify and boycott two days you can also recycle dollars to reinvest all year long. 

We gotta start some where...

The reason a 2 day boycott would make an impact is because retail business make 5% to 15% of their yearly income on those two days. Most retail businesses have a profit margin of just 15%.

So these two days are critical to their business profits. So by boycotting corporate retail chains you would either wipe out their profits for the year or seriously make a dent in it.

You can't just vote or have social activism without economic clout. Political power without economic power is no power at all.

In this country the economic powers call the shots.  So a boycott would get their attention and let them know to persuade police departments that businesses won't be as usual in a chaotic unruly social environment.

Blacks used the Internet to help raise 80 million dollars a month for Barack Obama's 1st President bid. How about we make the same effort to raise money to revitalize our communities with economic development.

When you own and control the economics in your neighborhood you can also have more influence over police departments, hire your own people, put pressure on and finance your own politicians, and garner more respect from other ethnic groups from a position of strength.  I think it is a good move. Checkout the riveting Blackout Black Friday video below...

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