“This is the start and the impact has to be measured beyond one day or month,” implored Marc Morial, CEO and President of the National Urban League, as everyday citizens, activists, churches and grassroots groups are participating in an economic blackout on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.
The 24-hour blackout, prohibiting any purchasing, is an attempt to protest efforts to end DEI in corporate America and the federal government.
The African American community alone has an almost $2 trillion buying power and when Black and brown communities are combined, it is an almost $5 trillion buying power.
Morial remembers the significance of boycotts in the 60s with the understanding that the use of selective purchasing is meant to demonstrate the power of consumers to support businesses that share their values and is inspired by the lessons of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
For 13 months, African Americans refused to use any bus services because of the arrest of Rosa Parks for sitting in the white Section of a public bus in 1955. The economic impact was felt as 90% of Black residents stayed off the buses. The unexpectedly highly publicized grassroots boycott ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
As the emergence of exclusionary practices is now mainstreamed, “Increasingly, community leaders and people are looking for new ways to flex their power beyond and in addition to voting and political power,” says Morial, the former Mayor of New Orleans.
Currently, there are active protests against Target and its anti-DEI actions that have incensed many rights leaders and other communities extracted from its diversity programming for the story. Also, there is a new effort calling for a religious fast from Target for Lent in March.
Morial advises Americans, particularly African Americans, to “pay attention to the consumer spending numbers and consumer confidence index numbers” as these boycotts and economic blackouts continue suggesting they are indicators that the movements are or are not making a difference.
By: April Ryan, Black Press USA Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent
