ESSENCE Poll: Have You Boycotted Shopping this Holiday Weekend to Support Ferguson?

Protestors migrated from the streets to the stores for this year’s Black Friday. Following the Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson, thousands made the conscience decision not to patronize retailers for one of the hottest shopping periods of the year and urged others to take the same stance.

A shopping center in Ferguson briefly closed after dozens of people staged “die-ins,” where demonstrators lay on the floor of different stores, reports NBC News. Protestors in San Francisco chained themselves to the doors of a popular shopping area, shutting it down. More than 100 boycotters flooded the streets outside of New York’s flagship Macy’s, chanting and holding signs that read “Shut It Down” and “Black Out Racism.”

“Getting the best sales is just silly when people’s lives are being wrecked every single day,” one Chicago protestor told NBC Chicago.

Black shoppers account for $1 trillion in spending, Forbes reports. By boycotting retailers from Black Friday through today, Cyber Monday, protestors are hoping that the economic impact will help ignite change.

Actor and activist Jesse Williams tweeted last week: “Recognize the stranglehold that corporate money has on the neck of public policy, including the levers of [in]justice #BlackoutBlackFriday”

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