I'm going to give you a quick history lesson. Black Friday, today, is used to describe the Friday following Thanksgiving where companies yearn to move from the red to the "black" in terms of profits. Before that it reportedly stemmed from being a "dark day" for Philly police due to the mass chaos caused by shoppers. All probably very true. TODAY. That's their truth and I will not discount it. But where does the term stem from ORIGINALLY?
When a shipment of slaves came in, and most survived the Middle Passage in great (or good, semantics really) health, the slave owners celebrated the fortune that they would make. Yes, so "black" in terms of fortune was as relative then as it still is today. Black Friday also referred to the general act of displaying the slaves in public on a Friday, like a best in show competition, in an attempt to sell them to the highest bidder.
Four very different definitions: two from the past and two from the present. So why boycott Black Friday?
In my opinion, we are still looked at as just a means to garner funds. They don't value us as people. Our lives, as a whole, do not matter. Yet, Blacks are responsible for over a TRILLION dollars in sales during Black Friday. A term originally coined from the degradation and humiliation of our people. A term which, is used today, in an attempt to erase its original definition from our minds with no apologies and no remorse. I see many sites discrediting the original definitions which is so telling of the plight of our people today. Our truths are dismissed and denied without question. Just because of the color of our skin. And because we allow them to rewrite our histories and delete entire passages of time without question.
Which brings me back full circle to today, 2014, right NOW. It doesn't MATTER that you participated in Black Friday in years past. In light of the Ferguson decision I believe that boycotting Black Friday will show unity amongst our people. It will show that although you see us as a means to a monetary gain we refuse to allow you to use us any longer. Black Friday isn't a celebration for us...it's a reminder. Every. Single. Year. And I'm no longer partaking in it.
"If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything." -Malcolm X
Natasha Marie
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