The Political Power of Boycotts: Consumer Activism, Corporate Accountability, and Democracy

[00:00:00]If you had asked me earlier this year what the word of the year might be, [music] I'd have said mandate.

[00:00:05]>> The American people gave President Trump a clear mandate to enact his America first agenda.

[00:00:09]>> This was a mandate from the American people.

[00:00:11]>> The mandate the president has from the voters [music] >> and it was really something special. So the American people gave us a historic mandate in November. Republicans largely and mistakenly [music] had decided that Trump's election win must have meant that backwards anti-diversity policies were popular again. [music] Some corporations jumped at the opportunity to dissolve diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, even though the Trump administration's executive orders did not [music] apply to them. And now, at the end of the first year of Donald Trump's second term, when his approval rating is in the very white toilet, so too are the profits those companies swore they didn't need people of color to bring in.

[00:00:49]And before you come up with some other tariff-based reason for the slide, Target [music] executives have already admitted that boycott have played a significant role. I'm Akquila Hughes and this is How Is This Better? And today we're tackling organized boycott that have taken aim at some of the biggest retailers on Earth during the busiest shopping season of the year.

[00:01:11]The branding for this pressure campaign is we ain't buying it. Organizers want you to pull back from spending money at Target and Home Depot and Amazon. And in a press release, they say the companies have caved to Donald Trump's [music] bigoted and anti-democratic attacks on our communities and our values. from cravenly abandoning their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

[00:01:30]>> I wanted to talk to someone who is both steeped in the history of boycots [music] and involved with this we ain't buying it campaign.

[00:01:38]>> This week marks the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. I am Latasha Brown. I grew up in that area. I grew up in Selma, Alabama and I'm an activist and organizer. I am founder of a couple of organizations. one is um Black Voters Matter Fund and BVM Capacity Building Institute and then the Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium. So, at the end of the day, I'm deeply southern. I am an activist and I actually love all of humanity. I am a big love bug.

[00:02:06]Latasha was also a lead organizer in the we ain't buying it boycott from Black Friday to Cyber Monday that took aim at Target, Home Depot, and Amazon. I wanted to talk to Latasha about why they targeted, no pun intended, those specific retailers, what she hopes the long-term impact will be, and how folks can continue to vote with their dollars this holiday shopping season. So, we ain't buying it. It was a concept a couple of months ago. You know, I was thinking of myself like what could we do that actually to leverage our power? And because I do political organizing, we do a lot of work around mobilizing the vote. We do a lot of work around impact of public policy. But one of the key points that I do think that we have a lot of power around and we know that is our economic power and often times we're not strategically using it or directing it in such a way that it gets us some of the outcomes that we want right and so even our consumer power alone and when I think when I say we with black consumer power alone that's $1.7 trillion in consumer power just for just a year that's a lot of money and there's a lot that we can actually do with it. So this really came out of the spirit of what could we do to really be able to leverage our power to actually build our own consciousness around how we spend our dollars and engage in even in the larger community. So as a result what we were able to do is to launch and create this campaign. We ain't buying it. We ain't buying it. We ain't buying this fascism. We're not buying that. We're in the wealthiest country in the world and we can't take care of his citizens and you're cutting off and hurting and harming um some of the people have the least amount to be able to lose in this moment while you're stockpiling and supporting billionaires. We just ain't buying it.

[00:03:46]>> There is a rich tradition of using boycotts as a form of protest in the US.

[00:03:50]Before our founding, colonists organized boycots against heavily taxed [music] goods imported from Britain. Those were largely successful as Britain relented on the taxes of most goods with one exception, tea. That led to the Boston Tea Party. Latasha mentioned the Montgomery bus boycott. Those, of course, were sparked by Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus [music] in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.

[00:04:14]The economic pressure of that year-long [music] boycott of city buses, organized in part by a young Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the very same [music] helped end segregation on public buses.

[00:04:25]So why then in 2025 [music] had organizers settled on Amazon, Home Depot, and Target to boycott to send a message? I [music] had my suspicions, but I wanted to hear from Latasha why they landed on those specific retailers.

[00:04:37][music] The three that we picked, Amazon, Home Depot, and Target, part of what we've seen with Amazon is really trying to capitulate to them in hopes of getting these tax breaks. But at the end of the day, the tax breaks are not what makes your business profitable. People power people and so they all have a brand. But more than anything, I do want to just share we ain't buying is not a boycott.

[00:05:00]We ain't buying it is a campaign. It's an economic action campaign that many a spectrum. There are some people that are doing boycots. There are folks that are withdrawing their money. There are people who are shifting their money to mutual aid. It is an opportunity and it was a campaign for us to be more conscientious about how we're using our dollars in a way that does not hurt and harm us.

[00:05:23]>> I'm curious about Home Depot because that to me I think is maybe one of the more recent spaces and and I'm I'm sure that you can speak to that. Um but with their cooperation with ICE and all of these sorts of organizations that just don't have I think community in mind, what was the sort of pressure you wanted to put on them? For the most part, we know that the construction industry, particularly the laborers, have been immigrants, particularly in the last decade or so or second generation, right? So, here's an industry that has built its bottom line off the backs of industry and people of color labor and poor workass labor. Like, you've built your industry off it. At the first sign, you do nothing to actually protect the very customers that come in your store.

[00:06:09]one of the groups that are part of our network and I think they have it on video where two of their workers were in a Home Depot. These are your customers were in a Home Depot shopping and ICE came in and tackled them to the floor.

[00:06:22]Here it is that many of them have been out in the parking lots. In addition to that, Home Depot turned over their surveillance footage. So, if you want to say, well, you know, we don't have anything to do with it. Where have you resisted? Where have you created any policy to prevent your customers, the very people who have provided resources for you, where have you done, they've not done that. And so what we're saying is do better because we've seen it in DC. There are restaurants in DC that tell ICE that they're not welcome. THERE ARE PLACES IN DC, we've witnessed in DC, in Charlotte, and in New York where the businesses stood up for their customers and said, "No, we're not going to allow you. you got to have a warrant to come in here or you got to show to show some discretion to be able that the very people that supported your businesses you're allowing them to be attacked on your property in your store on your on on your parking lot. It's not good enough to say, "Oh, that's just in the parking lot." I mean, I wonder how many of us can go and set up a barbecue pit in their parking lot. Will that just be their parking lot then? The bottom line is enough of the games. we're holding these companies to account that you cannot continue to support this uh authoritarianism and we're going to be okay and you're going to have our [clears throat] money. But I also want people to be cautious around this movement wasn't did not center the businesses, right? This movement centers us as consumers that we have to be more conscious. And if nothing else, what we know is there were 6.5 a million engagements around this campaign online on social media. We had 226 organizations, national organizations, many of them that have millions of members that join this effort. Um we have uh just scores of folks that have done stuff and it's gone viral. And so part of this really was how can we collectively use our power in a way that we're more conscious around it. So I want people to understand and accept the win. It may be really months before we really understand what the economic impact was, but at the end of the day it wasn't about the short-term economic impact. This is about the longer term.

[00:08:29]How do we become more conscientious of our spending? So then when there is a big boycott, when there is a general strike, when there are things that we probably going to have to do going forward, if things continue to escalate as they're escalating, that we're going to have to say no. So part of this is about building a muscle. And the way you build muscles if you got a tear. So we're building muscles by tearing this idea that during the holidays that all of us are just gonna shop because you're saying that's a sale, which quite frankly, many of the things are not even really on sale. They raise the price and then say they're on sale. But aside from that, this really is around reclaiming our power, redirecting our resources, and resisting. After a short break, we'll get more into how the billionaire owners of these [music] companies have turned their back on consumers to bend the knee to Trump. We'll be right back.

[00:09:24]We all saw Bezos and, you know, representatives from every tech company looking really happy and really chummy at the inauguration. But can you talk about the ways that they've funded Trump? Like they've actively given money to him and his organization.

[00:09:38]>> They've actively given money to him and his organization. They actually gave uh I think it's a million dollars over a million dollars for the inauguration, which they have never done before.

[00:09:48]>> Right. I didn't know that there were sponsors for that. [laughter] When I kept hearing that, I was like, for what? For like the bleachers, for like outfits. Let's be clear, they're worth $2 trillion in their sales and as part of their value. What we're seeing is we're seeing a super monopoly that part of what's happening with Amazon is many businesses, small businesses, pop-own businesses have had to close, right? Because you're seeing this great monopoly. And so now, you know, we're seeing it as particularly folks say, well, you know, you could get some of the best prices. When you got two or three, I can guarantee you this. When companies don't have competition, I can guarantee you they will extract everything they can out of you, right?

[00:10:32]And so their platform is a little different because they offer some choices around that. But we've got to send a message that it is not okay to not treat and pay your employees fairly.

[00:10:43]I'm not so caught up in some stuff that I don't need that I'm buying on online that I'm going to do that at the expense of hurting other people and hurting our environments, right? And so we've got to be more conscious on all levels around not just being so caught up in consumers because part of this process over the years they've trained us. Black Friday is the Friday before. Now they've extending they're trying to extend this this season of shopping because they've essentially reduced us to just give me your money. Just give me your money. I don't have to be accountable to you. I don't have to treat the employees right.

[00:11:19]I don't even have to give you a good quality product. Just give me your money and you need what I got to give you. And so it's almost like we're kind of in this trance that everything around us is like America's a big commercial.

[00:11:31]Everything around us is telling we need to buy more, buy more, buy more. And so it's created this culture in many of us around convenience and that we're willing to give our money away out of getting convenience, right? Instead of understanding that part of that is also contributing to what's killing us. We're literally buying purchasing ourselves out of our own jobs, right? I want people to really understand that. And then we're supporting an administration that is literally taking food off our tables. And what we're seeing is actually policies that's going to increase health care costs for us and basic needs cost for us. So we've got to be more sophisticated, more discerning as consumers, more discerning as citizens in this country and realize we can't fall for the oid do. We can't continue to go down this road that is really leading to destruction. But of course, it's not just the owners and execs at Target, Home Depot, and Amazon that have in some way capitulated or even just exploited [music] its customers in pursuit of endless wealth.

[00:12:34]I'm hoping this sends a message to other businesses cuz these aren't just the only three business. Be clear, folks need to understand, they need to question themselves, who's next? Because we are ultimately sending a message and creating a culture that says we are no longer going to continue to support you.

[00:12:51]We are saying that we got complete and total control over our money and we've got to start looking at these industries of how they're exploiting us. Not just as consumers, how they're exploiting THEIR WORKERS. LOOK AT a company around how are they treating their workers, their employees, right? Who are they contracting with? I want to know who you're giving contracts with, right?

[00:13:09]Have you fallen into this piece around this DEI that you've cut off black contractors or minority or womenowned contractors? That makes a difference to me. And are you a good steward of the environment? Are you creating waste? Are you contributing to all of of what's happening in our environment around environmental injustice? So my point is if nothing else, the greatest win, what I am so proud of and so excited is that millions of Americans said no. We want [snorts] socially responsible businesses to support. We want policies that don't hurt and harm our people and we have power. So, for me, that's what a win looks like for me. After another short break, we'll talk more about why boycotts are an effective protest tactic here. Spoiler alert, capitalism, and what Latasha hopes the legacy of we ain't buying it will be.

[00:14:04][music] I do want to ask because you mentioned the Montgomery bus boycotts and I think that we've all been thinking about them a little bit more critically um in a good way in the past year about you know ways to resist that aren't necessarily easy that take longer than you might think but do ultimately uh create real change. I'm curious about or just for your opinion about why this form of protest is so effective here in the United States.

[00:14:31]>> Well, one I think it's totally in people's choice, right? is one thing like you can't make me buy your stuff, right? You [laughter] can't I mean you can't make me get on the bus. Yeah.

[00:14:42]Right. And so I think on some level I think and and I want to be honest boycotts are hard. Part of the reason why we are I'm not one of those people that romanticize that. I think that you just somebody does something and you just like let's call for a boycott.

[00:14:55]They're hard. They're hard to sustain.

[00:14:57]Particularly in a culture that has been driven on this idea of convenience. We don't like change, right? We don't.

[00:15:03]We're really resistant to change. But what makes them successful when you get them rolling is once people see the change and are feeling a part of this change, you know, people like to feel a sense of belonging. And so I think part of why the campaign took root, we feed off each other's energy and we start seeing our communities work together.

[00:15:24]The other thing, it was multi-racial. It was multicultural. It was multi-generational. I would go on Tik Tok and I would see a 20-year-old making this fantastic social media post about it. There were elders who were actually boycotting in front of Home Depot singing u Christmas carols like we saw white people, black folks, members of the AAPI community. For me, this campaign encapsulate of this is what America looks like. That this is a part of America that says that we actually value diversity and creativity and equity and inclusion. That's what we value, right? Not just as a policy, but we value this as a principle. I think that these actions work because people are feeling connected and feel a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. I also think that they work because people are able to direct their anger and their frustration. People are pissed off at this moment. People are upset, but people are there are millions of people in this country. We saw 7 million come out in the largest march ever in the history of this country in the no kings protest. Right? That's because people are frustrated. They are fearful of how this country is going moving forward. And we don't like what is happening. We don't like seeing our neighbors being snatched up like they're not human beings. Yeah.

[00:16:44]>> And so the more we actually support and lift up actions like this, the more people in our movement, more people in this country will know about it, will join it, will participate. and you get to a critical mass. Once we get to a critical mass, there's no industry that we can't shift, change, shut down, or force them to change directions. And what that means is that we're going to have to also have a change in behavior as consumers and even our change in behavior as citizens because I tell folks, I need people to shift from just seeing themselves as citizens in this nation. This is our country and our nation, and we're going to shape it to be exactly what we need it to be, right?

[00:17:21]and we're gonna be relentless in getting there. And so, we got to lean in in this moment and get it done. You got to lean in because we ain't buying it.

[00:17:28]>> I love that. I guess my last real question for you is about the organized message around we ain't buying. It's, you know, redirecting funds. I really want to talk about that piece because I think that you mentioned it, you know, even throughout your answers, but you're really not just encouraging people to stop spending, but encouraging people to vote with their dollars. Can you talk a little bit about like where you encourage people to redirect to and some of them maybe collaborators who have you know shown up and said hey we actually we can provide what what is now missing if you don't go to Home Depot anymore.

[00:18:01]In this moment we know that small businesses and local businesses. The truth of the matter is the lifeblood of this country. Even the workingass middle class in our communities have been because of small businesses not because these large businesses been small business. And we're actually seeing that die out in many ways because you got these big monopolies like Walmart and Amazon that are taking so much of the sales. And so in this moment, what we're asking people is to take a step back and let's support what works for us. When my child is doing a fundraiser, it is the the corner store that I'm going to get a ad for, right? When I'm selling all of this popcorn and I'm so tired of selling popcorn, but for some reason every three months I got to sell some more candle popcorn, right? It's my neighbors who are actually buying and supporting that, not Amazon. I'm not one of those folks that I think that we want to destroy business. We understand businesses are needed and are necessary and we want businesses to thrive, but we want them to feel a sense of that they're a part of the community and you got to be a good member of the community to really be able to get support. And so for as we're redirecting, we want folks to redirect our resources to where it really matters that there are so many local businesses, blackowned businesses, womenowned businesses that are really the lifeblood in our communities.

[00:19:16][music] So look, whether or not you joined in the we ain't buying it boycott or not, what Latasha is talking about [music] is pretty simple. We have power.

[00:19:26]Coordinated, intentional actions add up.

[00:19:29]They tell a story [music] about what we expect from the people who profit off of us. So, [music] as you continue shopping this holiday season, remember that your money talks. If enough of us speak up, we'll see who starts listening. [music]