Coalition calls for spending boycott
MILWAUKEE — A coalition of community leaders gathered at City Hall to announce a boycott of holiday spending in response to which it calls police brutality, racist attacks, and economic injustice.
The local organizing committee for #JusticeOrElse presented the campaign of economic withdrawal starting on Black Friday and continuing until after New Years Day.
“We’re not buying anything that’s not black — and she looked at me and said ‘there are black and white people in a lot of shops’ and I said ‘that’s fine, as long as it’s owned by somebody black,'” Patricia McManus, president and CEO of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin said.
The movement #JusticeOrElse is inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who called for a holiday spending boycott in the 60s to”redistribute the pain.”
The families of Dontre Hamilton and Corey Stingley, who were both killed over the past few years, stand in support of this movement.
“I say withhold your spending,” Nate Hamilton said.
“That’s just the beginning with this boycott, with the withdrawal of our support for a system that doesn’t support us,” Craig Stingley said.
“There’s so many things you can do to benefit your families this holiday season with those resources,” Alderman Ashanti Hamilton said.
