Since the first slave steps onto American Shores, black and brown people have never had equal rights. The Constitution was not designed to protect, empower or equalize people of color. Nor were our state laws, policies, rules or regulations. Black people have always been at the bottom of the social structure in America and that continues to be the case.
The Black Dollar Days Initiative is an alternative way to protest that will yield results. Black people and our constituents have marched, prayed, cried and died for right to be treated equally. While that has yielded some results, we are far from having social, economic, financial, medicinal and other forms or reparations. Reparations are a system of redress for egregious injustices.
In 2016, my team and I conducted focus groups and feasibility studies on financial protests. Financial protests are ways in which black people and their constituents withhold money from the corporations that support laws, policies and procedures that negatively impact people of color. Concurrently, supporting and giving black-owned and affiliate business the opportunity to participate in the Initiative by being listed in the Black Dollar Days Resource Registry. After all, people need places to shop on Black Dollar Days and every day.
How does The Black Dollar Days Initiative determine who to protest against?
The Black Dollar Days Initiative determines what companies to use financial protests/leverage against by doing in-depth research of the corporate lobbyist who donate to the politicians that make the laws, policies and procedures that negatively affect people of color and their affiliates. Many of the donations are a matter of public record. And we always welcome new, documented information. Presently, the Black Dollar Days Initiative is not targeting one particular corporation. We are creating momentum and we will be doing so shortly.
Why Will Black Dollar Days Work?
While nothing is guaranteed, financial protests have not been used long-term. There may have been one or two days where people were admonished not to shop for a day. Corporations care nothing about financial protests for one or two days. There has to be ongoing pressure and leverage. Corporations care about two things; money and power. If we withdraw our finances and use them as leverage, we create our own money stream and have the power to make and demand change.
What issues are The Black Dollar Days Initiative focusing on now?
The Black Dollar Days Initiative is focusing on stopping police brutality and protecting our voting rights. The number of unarmed black people murdered by police has not changed in 2021. In fact, they are on point with the same amount of murders in 2020. The George Floyd Act has yet to be passed in the Senate.
The voting rights for people of color have always been in peril, and they are more now than ever. As of mid-June, 17 states had passed 28 laws making it harder for constituents to vote in 2021, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law. The report notes that the last year a similar number of laws passed restricting access to the ballot was 2011 – when 14 states had enacted 19 such measures by October.
Eliza Sweren-Becker, a voting rights and elections counsel at the Brennan Center, called the new wave of voting laws "an unprecedented assault on voting rights" as well as "a voter suppression effort we haven't seen since the likes of Jim Crow."
In order to make the sweeping kind of changes that are needed for people of color, there must be a financial revolution. We hold the power literally in the palm of our hands. But it takes, time, unity, effort and strength. The Black Dollar Days Initiative is leading the way! Join us and/or register your business. Mostly, Spread the Word!