This holiday season, many Americans are rethinking where they spend their money, especially in light of recent political and economic pressures. With rising costs, cuts to social programs like SNAP, and growing corporate alignment with divisive policies, a movement is emerging to redirect spending toward Black-owned and locally operated businesses. The initiative, called “We Ain’t Buying It!”, encourages consumers to withhold support from major retailers that have rolled back diversity commitments or benefited from exploitative labor practices. The campaign draws inspiration from historical acts of economic resistance, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, emphasizing that consumer choices can be a form of civic power. Families are reclaiming holidays as times for connection rather than consumption, resisting the commercialization that has eroded traditional gatherings. As insurance costs climb and federal workers face instability, the call to invest in community resilience grows louder. By aligning spending with values, participants aim to build wealth within marginalized groups and challenge systems that profit from inequality.
— news from USA Today
— News Original —
We’re not buying what Trump enablers sell this Black Friday | Opinion
Support a Black or locally owned business. Keep your money in your community. Let’s show them what happens when we stop playing a game rigged against us. n nIt was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. n nOver the past month, we saw the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the first major interruption of food assistance in the 60-year history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and, in a glimmer of hope, election wins that underscored how dire the economy was for voters and our ability to fight back. n nOne might think all this economic upheaval and the pain millions of Americans are feeling would inspire companies to show a modicum of decency or discretion in their holiday marketing, but that could not be further from the truth. n nWe’re also seeing what feels like the most aggressive Black Friday campaign yet. This is not the only, and most troubling, way they are out of touch. Just as the Trump administration wants us to ignore its abuses of power or believe our economy isn’t hurting, some of the biggest retailers in the world are in lockstep with his authoritarianism. And they’re campaigning for our dollars this holiday season. n nThis Thanksgiving, I’m taking my power back and reclaiming the spirit of the holiday. I invite all Americans who are fed up to do the same. n nBlack Friday is a sign of what we’ve traded for what’s sacred n nI remember Thanksgiving in Alabama. My family would gather for the entire day, for the meal and everything that came after. We’d watch movies, eat leftovers until we couldn’t move, and play Spades until somebody accused somebody else of looking at their cards. That weekend was ours. Sacred. n nThen, something shifted. Black Friday sales would begin on Thursday. Cyber Monday stretched the shopping into a weeklong marathon. Somewhere along the way, I got caught up in it, too, treating family time like an obstacle between me and a product. It happened so gradually I almost didn’t notice: I had traded what was sacred for what was on sale. n nTell us: How much should you spend on gifts for holidays? Take our poll. | Opinion Forum n nThis year, I’ll be at home spending time with my family, not money with corporations that don’t align with my values. Because here’s what I’ve learned about authoritarianism – it doesn’t just take your rights. First, it takes your attention and peace. Then it creates chaos, economic pressure and fear. It gets you so busy surviving that you forget you have power. You surrender without even realizing you’re in a fight. n nWe’re done surrendering. n nGiven what’s happening in our nation, this holiday season, we’re launching the “We Ain’t Buying It!” campaign – a call to action grounded in reclaiming our power, redirecting our spending and resisting authoritarianism. n nAcross this country, 300,000 Black women left the workforce between February and April. Black contracts are being canceled. Black workers – who make up about 20% of the federal workforce – just faced a 43-day shutdown without the generational wealth or safety nets many of our White counterparts rely on. SNAP benefits are being cut. Insurance premiums keep climbing. School lunch programs are losing funding. n nAll the while, the corporations we’ve been loyal to are dismantling diversity programs to appease the Trump administration, hoping we won’t notice or care. n nWe do. And we’re keeping receipts. n nOpinion: Black women are the backbone of the workforce. Why are they facing more job cuts? n nSupport Black businesses, keep your money local and stop buying lies n nIn Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 20,000 children stayed home from school recently – many too afraid to go because of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Think about what it means when a child is too frightened to seek an education. And then think about Home Depot, a company that built its empire on the backs of immigrant labor, now playing host to constant ICE raids. n nHow do I celebrate a holiday rooted in gratitude and family while children are too terrified to go to school? While neighbors hide in their homes? While corporations that claimed to value diversity abandon those commitments the moment they become inconvenient? n nThe answer is: I don’t. Not the way they want me to. n nOpinion: What if women were honest about why we’re out of the office? n nAmerican wealth was built with enslaved labor. Through Black creativity and innovation that was stolen and rebranded. Through insurance policies literally written on enslaved people’s bodies. That extraction didn’t end with emancipation – it evolved. Corporations learned to profit from our labor, our culture, our loyalty and, yes, our trauma, while offering us crumbs and calling it progress. n nWe ain’t buying that story anymore. n nIn 2025, we must free ourselves from a consumer system that profits off our pain. Free ourselves from corporations that drop their so-called values the moment power issues a threat. And reclaim the freedom to put our dollars, our time and our care back where they belong: in our families and our communities. n nThanksgiving is meant to remind us what matters. Gratitude. Family. Community. The simple, revolutionary act of taking care of each other. Every person in this country matters, whether they carry a blue passport or not. Their lives have value. Their children deserve to walk to school without fear. Their labor deserves dignity. n nFrom Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, we’re redirecting our power. We’re building wealth in our communities. We’re proving that when we align our values with our dollars, we shake the foundations of systems that depend on our compliance. n nJust as the Black community did in Alabama’s Montgomery bus boycott in the 1950s, we used our economic power to show that our money matters. We can say no to corporations that treat our values as negotiable. We can invest in ourselves instead of making billionaires richer. We can fight for a democracy that respects and values people. n nThis action is just the beginning. We can seize this opportunity to become more disciplined and conscientious consumers as we take collective action. We want folks to take the work forward and lead more local efforts. This is an opportunity for us to reclaim our power, redirect spending and resist those companies that are aligning with a regime. n nJoin us. Share this campaign. Support a Black or locally owned business. Keep your money in your community. Let’s show them what happens when we stop playing a game rigged against us. n nWe ain’t buying it.