LOS ANGELES: US celebrities called for a boycott to take
place Friday — one of the busiest US shopping days — to protest a grand jury’s
decision not to prosecute a police officer who fatally shot a black teen.
A number of well-known figures, among them hip-hop mogul
Russell Simmons, have signed onto the action, under the Twitter hashtags #NotOneDime
and #BlackoutBlackFriday.
“We have the power to change our nation.
Stand up with
@UnitedBlackout on #BlackoutBlackFriday,” tweeted one of the supporters,
actress Kat Graham, who stars in TV series “The Vampire Diaries.”
Stand up with
@UnitedBlackout on #BlackoutBlackFriday,” tweeted one of the supporters,
actress Kat Graham, who stars in TV series “The Vampire Diaries.”
Also backing the campaign were TV star Jesse Williams and
celebrated journalist Soledad O’Brien, among others.
“No Just, No Profit. Corporate/public power only speaks $.
So let’s talk to ‘em,” Williams tweeted, along with a link to a video compilation
of police brutality.
Black Friday is a day of deep commercial discounts and
frenzied shopping which takes place each year after the Thursday Thanksgiving
holiday in the United States.
The planned campaign calls for a one-day moratorium on
spending to protest what it calls “staggering” human rights violations in the
United States, including police brutality.
The boycott was prompted by widespread outrage after a grand
jury on Monday failed to indict a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri
who shot and killed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August. Protests erupted across the US after the decision.
America’s 43 million black citizens will hold about $1.1
trillion in purchasing power by 2015, a Nielsen study said.
Source: AFP
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