Boycotting and Economic Relationships as Protest

Los Angeles (AFP) - 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. (Agence France-Presse (AFP), 2014)

The concept sounds like a good method—if you can get enough support—of sending a message to the corporate side of society.  The only problem is that the message received—if it's received—is likely to be more marginalization of any identifiable groups through a reduction in stores and staff in areas that "underperform" on economic measures, like sales…

…which is counterproductive in many ways.

In terms of economic power, job opportunities, and building relationships with particular companies, it may be creating a challenge just like relationships with the businesses burned in the riots.

Though not on the same scale, the economic effects of the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 were long-term and are still being felt (McDonald, 2012), most starkly by reluctance of outside businesses to return or enter the area.  Additionally, competitive markets and other populations of people benefited through race-specific gentrification (Bates, 2012).  

Specifically, in Los Angeles, South (Central) Los Angeles lost a good number of African-Americans who were replaced by a much larger number of Hispanics causing a change in economics and consumer interests.  From the position of the remaining African-Americans, this loss of cultural and “racial” homogeneity twenty years later may offset any benefit of any economic recovery at that point.

So, the initial response for businesses and other economic partner is to pull back from both the area and identifiable populations who support such a riot—evidence of a broken economic relationship—because of high or the perception of high economic risk.  Then, to only reestablish economic connection once the perception the area or population has changed and is safe once again, often when the local culture has changed, often, because the local people have changed.  Alternatively, subpopulations sharing a common cultural and/or ethnic background and the resources to do so may create local economic recovery based on serving primarily their own cultural/ethnic peers (Bates, 2012; Sides, 2012).

Another effect—from the governmental side—is they have an opportunity to alter the business composition in an area (Sides, 2012).  Building permits and zoning are a governmental function.  Who may build and what may be built are often more in government hands than in the local hands.  This means the government can support or hinder different types of business from operating in an area to a greater degree than an existing situation where plankholders hold an advantage and an established clientele to support them.  Given the fact small business are probably more susceptible to not rebuilding, you're probably shifting even more power to big business who has the lawyers and money to challenge a local government’s zoning rulings.

Overall, if the requirement is to get noticed and to register the willingness for a large, identifiable subpopulation to make economic decisions by racial/ethnic category, a boycott may work.  If the end-state goal is to protect or improve economic stability for that racial/ethnic population, I’m not sure the consequences are worth it.  A better strategy may be to form stronger economic relationships with businesses that support the racial/ethnic ideology being expressed and reward them with increased economic support as leverage to encourage other businesses to follow suit.  While not in accord with the sense of rage currently being expressed by many African-Americans, playing the relationship-leverage card may ultimately be more successful than trying to create risk-aversive behaviors in businesses.

Works Cited

Agence France-Presse (AFP). (2014, November 27). Celebrities call for 'Black Friday' boycott. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/celebrities-call-black-friday-boycott-050726527.html

Bates, K. G. (2012, April 27). How Koreatown Rose From The Ashes Of L.A. Riots. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/27/151524921/how-koreatown-rose-from-the-ashes-of-l-a-riots

McDonald, P. R. (2012, April 25). Then & Now: Images from the Same Spot as the L.A. Riots, 20 Years Later. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from L.A. Weekly: http://www.laweekly.com/microsites/la-riots/

Sides, J. (2012, April 19). 20 Years Later: Legacies of the Los Angeles Riots. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from Places Journal: https://placesjournal.org/article/20-years-later-legacies-of-the-los-angeles-riots/