Thursday, March 28, 2024

At Vigil for Alton Sterling, Leaders Propose Boycott of Local Businesses

Protesters stand on cars as they congregate at N. Foster Dr. and Fairfields Ave., the location of the Triple S convenience store in Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, July 6, 2016.
Protesters stand on cars as they congregate at N. Foster Dr. and Fairfields Ave., the location of the Triple S convenience store in Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

*A vigil was held Wednesday in the parking lot of Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, where Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police less than 48 hours earlier.

According to The Washington Post, the event “capped off a gathering that grew in size and intensity throughout the day, culminating with hundreds of peaceful protesters gathered to share poetry, song, prayer and words as community leaders called on the black community to boycott city establishments.”

More on the call to boycott from WaPo:

Rev. Reginald Pitcher told the crowd he’d overheard some young people in the parking lot who were “very, very upset.” One protester yelled, “Well, shouldn’t they be?”

But Pitcher called on the crowd to funnel that anger into what he termed a “selective buying campaign.”

“Withdraw our dollars until we get justice,” he said. “The only thing they respect is the dollar.” Pitcher called on the crowd to stop supporting businesses outside of the black community, including those at the nearby Mall of Louisiana. Pitcher said a conference formally announcing the boycott will be held at the mall on Friday morning.

“Ain’t nobody gonna do nothing for you but you,” Pitcher said. “The remedy to justice is to hurt them in their pockets.”

Byron Sharper, a leader in the local NAACP chapter, also referenced the planned boycott. “Let’s keep our money in our community,” he said.

Triplett, the neighbor who knew Sterling, also wants to see something come of his death.

“It’s modern-day lynching,” she said. “They lynched black men back in the day to prove a point. Now what do they do? They shoot them down in the street, and don’t get convicted of nothing.”

Read the entire Washington Post article here.

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