The right protest has the potential to bring a nation to its knees, change laws and policies forever; and cement a spot in our history books. This one-day economic boycott on Friday (Feb. 28) won’t be one of those protests. Let me tell you why.
The reasoning behind the one-day boycott happening this Friday is simple: When Trump came into office, he took aim at Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government. Following his lead, corporations like McDonalds and Walmart began rolling back DEI initiatives in their stores. Target did the same, but later allegedly apologized but then maybe didn’t? (Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel about the corporation whose man headquarters are in the hometown of the man who purified himself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.)
Black folks led the charge in calling for peole to stop shopping at places that did away with DEI. White folks have jumped on board and now there are plans for a boycott of places like Amazon, McDonald’s any other corporation that is following the 47th president’s lead. The irony is that Meta is also rolling back their diversity initiatives, but there is scarcely a word about leaving Instagram and Facebook. In fact, they are using those platforms to organize this boycott.
This is all fine and good....I mean, white folks jumping on board an idea that Black folks had is not new. But here’s the thing, and I’ve said this before, but it needs to be underlined, highlighted and put in bold: The boycott cannot just be one day. Not if anyone wants it to work.
Organizing a group of people — especially folks who look like us — is a major undertaking. We fall into habits unthinkingly. We drive the same route home because its comfortable. We wear the same clothes when we get home because it comfortable. We shop at the same store because, you guessed it, we find it comfortable. We like don’t like things to be hard. We don’t want to change our patterns. That’s why the Montgomery Bus Boycott is so notable.
Not only were the participants of that boycott able to get people to change their patters and embrace discomfort to cause change, but they were also able to get protesters who walk miles daily to accomplish their goal. That’s significant. That dedication and tenacity is what made the city of Montgomery bend to their will. The same kind of dedication will be needed if the people behind this week’s protest want to be successful…but I have doubts.
Sure, you can get people to change their shopping habits for one day. But what happens after that? Remember the Women’s March and the pu**yhats? That fizzled out because there was no real plan beyond that one-day protest. What about Occupy Wall Street? What happened to that movement? Even the Pro-Palestinian wave of support that swept college campuses last Spring fizzled out over the Summer….why? Because to keep people engaged is hard. Especially now, with social media competing for our attention.
To make corporations listen to us, we must do more than boycott their stores for one day. Billion-dollar corporations can survive a 24hour hit to their bottom line. We must be willing to walk away from them for weeks and months if necessary.
But I’m not hearing anyone say they are willing to do that. So I’ll join y’all in the protest this Friday, but don’t expect any major changes. That’s going to take more than just shopping at Costco on Feb. 28.