Jordan Davis was murdered on Black Friday, and that’s partly why his mother, Lucia McBath, won’t be shopping today. Not simply because the day triggers the memory of her 17-year-old boy’s shooting death at the hands of an angry white motorist in Jacksonville three years ago, but because she remembers how much Jordan was looking forward to what turned out to be the last day of his life. “He was really excited about that, because he had already decided what he wanted to purchase on Black Friday,” she told Democracy Now! in January.
The Guardian’s Jana Kasperkevic reports that McBath is participating today in the #NotOneDime consumer boycott that began on Thanksgiving Day and continues through Monday. The hashtag was launched by Urban Cusp founder and publisher Rahiel Tesfamariam one year ago, shortly after a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson for the 2014 killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. “My hope is that the 2015 boycott will again channel our collective community rage towards an economic boycott that empowers people of all ages and ethnic groups to participate in economic resistance,” Tesfamariam told The Guardian.
But in case some worry a boycott of Black Friday would primarily hurt black business owners and retail workers, that strong African American purchasing power will also be asserted via the #buyblack campaign, which aims to direct black dollars to black businesses. ESSENCE and The Root compiled lists of black businesses to patronize.