Michael Brown, 18, was killed by white Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, in Ferguson, Missouri.
Jamal Bryant launched his campaign earlier in the week using the hashtag #handsupdontspend – a reference to a slogan used by Ferguson protesters. It’s been tweeted more than 7,000 times, with other hashtags pushing the campaign including #notonedime, #boycottblackfriday and #blackoutblackfriday.
“It’s my hope that black businesses and the black community will benefit,” he says, citing a study that said African-Americans collectively spend $1 trillion a year.
Jamal Bryant says that a sustained campaign of economic pressure would serve as a protest against police violence.
“America responds to money more than they do to masses,” he says.
Kicking back against Black Friday isn’t a new idea. For more than 20 years the anti-capitalist magazine Adbusters has urged people to give the shops a miss on what it calls Buy Nothing Day.
Jamal Bryant stressed his action isn’t a boycott but rather a call to support businesses owned by black people across the US.
The events in Ferguson over the past week have inspired a number of online fundraising drives, including one by a bakery that was damaged during rioting and the Ferguson public library.
Jamal Bryant cited the 1960s civil rights movement as an example of the power of economic action.
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