Black Friday is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, serving as the official kick-off to the holiday shopping season. With racial tensions high, black consumers nationwide used the weekend to protest the unfair treatment of African Americans with their money. After a weekend of shouting #NotOneDime and urging consumers to shop with Black-owned businesses instead, studies show that sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving fell by $1.2 billion this year.
According to TIME, Black Friday sales decreased from $11.6 billion in 2014 to $10.4 billion in 2015, while sales on Thanksgiving day also dropped by $200 million.
Reports about the slump in Black Friday sales from mainstream media attribute the change in consumer spending to other factors like the increase in online shopping or a strengthening economy, according to the CEO of the National Retail Federation. Yet with $1.1 trillion in buying power, it is futile not to include the efforts of the ongoing boycott by African Americans as a direct affect on those numbers. And it's no surprise that this isn't acknowledged in any reports by the mainstream media. To admit that Black dollars have a major impact on our economy would shift the power dynamics drastically.
We have already seen the impact of our money with movements from the Montgomery Bus boycott to the University of Missouri boycott. This is another reminder that "Black Dollars Matter." Let's keep the momentum going and remember to buy black all year long. Regardless of whether the media would like to acknowledge our impact or not, the proof is in the numbers.
