The Boycott Plan

Y'all, help me out a minute....

I know that on today, we were asked by Isaiah Washington to not go into work, and not spend any money today, as a boycott for all the police murders and abuse of Black men and women that have transpired over the past 2-3 YEARS.

I'm sorry, but unless you have your own business that you run, or you have a job where you can arbitrarily can just take a day off (like civil service jobs) - if you, as I do, work in the private sector - you cannot take a random day off without consequence of reprimand or loss of job and income.

Does this mean that I don't support the movement?   Not at all.

I just wished they had planned it better.

So, to the authors, architects and constructors of the boycott, here are some ideas for the next boycott:

1) Make it tangible - not spending money in places that don't give a damb about us, I'm all down for it.  But if you REALLY wanna send a message:  stop going to football games, stop buying overpriced coffees and lattes, stop going to the fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants, stop going into clothing stores that don't cater to our sizes and our culture, and for GOD's sake - stop going to concerts and watching TV shows and movies that the actors/artists/singers/musicians are not WOKE!!(yeah, I'm throwing shade at you, Fantasia!!)

2) Make it a day that is historical in our minds, and give us some warning time before we do it.  Because if you're gonna ask me to take a day off from work - it needs to be memorable.  Example: somewhere around the Juneteenth celebrations.  Make sure that if I am going to take a PTO for this, I'm doing something with it: marching, building up my community, reaching out. I don't wanna be sitting at home with nuffin to do.

3) If you're gonna boycott the holidays, give some alternatives:  if there is a Black-owned food company that can cater Thanksgiving/Christmas turkeys, hams, ribs and ALL the fixings for us, set up a website, make it affordable and get it out on social media.  That way, Black $$ go back to Black businesses.  And if we necessarily have to go to a grocery store, give us a list of proscribed companies that we can go to that have been approved.  Myself, I think I may start going to the farmer's market for some of my food items.

This is in an effort to ensure: we make our UNITED voices HEARD, instead of a few just screaming out in the wind to no avail.

IJS