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In USA Today [ [link removed] ], our sister LaTosha Brown wrote, “This Thanksgiving, I’m taking my power back and reclaiming the spirit of the holiday. I invite all Americans who are fed up to do the same.”
We’re joining Latosha and millions of others this weekend for the “We Ain’t Buying It” [ [link removed] ] campaign - a targeted boycott of Target, amazon.com, and Home Depot on the busiest shopping weekend of the year. And with our friends at the Save America Movement [ [link removed] ], we’ve added one more - Apple - to make it four major American companies for the next four days.
Why mount a four-day boycott against multibillion dollar companies on the busiest shopping weekend of the year?
We’re joining this boycott because corporate capitulation to authoritarianism is a moral issue. When Target willingly scrapped their DEI programs to comply with Trump’s demands, they legitimated an extreme agenda. When Jeff Bezos joined the billionaires inside the Capitol to bankroll Trump’s inauguration while also ordering the editorial page of The Washington Post to take the heat off of Trump, he enabled a regime that has grown more extreme by the day. When Home Depot allowed Miller’s masked men to stage raids in their privately owned parking lots, they facilitated illegal assaults that have terrorized communities across the country. When Tim Cook pledged to help build Trump’s ballroom where the East Wing of the White House used to be, he betrayed Apple’s values in the hopes of winning the regime’s favor.
The policy violence of this regime would not be possible without the corporate sponsors who are enabling it. We join the call for this boycott, then, in solidarity with all of the directly impacted people we’ve stood with at every Moral Monday this year.
But, some folks ask, why bother? Four days isn’t going to put a dent in their bottom line.
We believe this boycott isn’t simply a moral action; it is a strategic one. Major US brands like Target, amazon.com, Home Depot, and Apple have spent years investing in building their brands. When people are celebrating with family on Thanksgiving weekend, these companies buy commercials on TV to connect their products with those feelings of home.
A Thanksgiving weekend boycott may have a relatively small immediate economic impact. But it can shift the conversations we are having with those closest to us about what’s needed in this moment.
Corporations have made calculated decisions about how to respond to an authoritarian regime. Some have decided that going along to get along will be best for their bottom line. But if they see a significant dip in brand loyalty because their customers stand up to say, “No, what this regime is doing to vulnerable people is wrong,” that does make a difference.
Again, the policy violence of this regime would not be possible without the corporate sponsors who are enabling it.
So we invite you to join this weekend’s targeted boycott as an investment in the kind of mass resistance we need to reclaim the tools of our government. And we challenge you to do it as a part of your investment in the world that we know is possible for all of us.
Economic boycotts are a tool of disinvestment that have been powerful throughout history; but they’ve always been rooted in communities that invest in the world that they know is possible. When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to buy British products, they invested in local groups that made and sold homespun cloth. When the abolitionists refused to buys the products of slave labor, they also invested in building an Underground Railroad that helped as many people as they could to find their way to freedom.
So while we’re not shopping this weekend, we wanted to let you know about two things we are investing in:
Rev Jesse Jackson has been in the news because his supra nuclear palsy has advanced to a stage that requires hospitalization. At this moment of vulnerability, Rev Jackson has made clear that he wants to challenge people to invest in addressing the crisis of hunger in this country. His Rainbow Push coalition has asked 2,000 churches to distribute 2,000 baskets to four million families in this season. To honor his request, we’re giving $2000 to St James Christian Church for their food ministry. We encourage you to invest in a faith community or food bank in your community.
Earlier this year, Jonathan visited Waco, Texas, where a broad coalition of community groups have joined together to address the crisis of homelessness that we’ve seen in so many American cities by building a “community-first”model tiny home village called Creekside. You can learn more about their vision by watching the video below. We’re investing $2,000 toward a $50,000 goal of building a guest house in the village where people can come and see what the community-first model looks and feels like. You can join us (and watch our progress) with this link: [link removed] [ [link removed] ]
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