1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott<\/a>, where coordinated spending power and community discipline forced a national reckoning on segregation.<\/p>\nSparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks, Black residents of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses for 381 days, walking miles to work, organizing carpools, and building a disciplined system of mutual support that held firm even as officials tried to break them with arrests, harassment, and violence. It was the first major boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
The protest was ultimately successful. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in November 1956 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, a decision that marked one of the first major victories of the modern Civil Rights Movement and helped launch Dr. King, then a 26-year-old pastor, into national prominence.<\/p>\n
Many Sacramento residents say that spirit is rising again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, boycotts worked. Dr. King led a successful boycott that changed history and everything,\u201d said Faye Wilson Kennedy, organizer with the Sacramento Poor People\u2019s campaign. \u201cSo, we know for sure that boycotts work.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Keisha \u201cAgent Kee\u201d Mathews, broker\/owner of Mathews and Co. Realty Group and Founder of Sac Club 100, the blackout works only with a strategy behind it. She supports the movement\u2019s goals but believes the most powerful impact comes from redirecting dollars, not simply withholding them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just tell people \u2018Don\u2019t shop here\u2019 without showing them where to go,\u201d said Mathews, who is also a radio host on KDEE 97.5. \u201cIf we emphasize shopping locally, we keep our neighborhoods strong. We reinvest in our own communities. That\u2019s how we support the small business owners who are struggling right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy added that boycotts work only when people truly understand their importance. She hasn\u2019t shopped at Walmart in years because of the company\u2019s treatment of Black workers in the South. After learning Target was pulling away from DEI commitments, she has gradually phased it out, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to support Black businesses however I can,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople have to be committed. You can\u2019t do it because someone told you to. You have to understand the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cassandra Jennings, president and CEO of St. HOPE, sees the current boycott as an important reminder of the economic influence Black communities hold \u2014 and often forget to use.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we not only use our vote and our voice, but also our pocketbooks to make sure that people understand what\u2019s important to us,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cThis is an opportunity for us to really support Black businesses, support local businesses, and be intentional and use our economic power as our new voice to say we need to support DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some shoppers agreed with the movement\u2019s goals but said there\u2019s a leadership gap compared to earlier eras.<\/p>\n
For a long time, Sacramento resident Lauren Moore avoided major stores on Black Friday mostly because she wanted to \u201cstay out of the chaos,\u201d but she recognizes the potential impact if boycotts were organized more clearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoycotting can stop big businesses, if we do it the right way,\u201d she said. \u201cBoycotts work. Back in the Martin Luther King era, there was one voice guiding people. We haven\u2019t found that leader yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
For business owners such as Teesha Spagner, who runs Artisan Jewelry by Teesha, the stakes are real.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, Black people will continue with the practice of spending their money with their own people, like the other races do,\u201d Spagner said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have what you need, then go outside for your products and services.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stressed that she welcomes everyone, not just Black shoppers, but said support from her own community is especially critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just to be clear, I\u2019m not saying I or any of us only want support from our own people,\u201d Spagner said. \u201cEveryone is welcome to shop with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was not your usual Black Friday. More than 50 Black-owned businesses filled Florin Square on Nov. 28…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[8487,46490,912,46491,4340,46492,40223,46493,46494,121,123,122,2838,2837],"class_list":["post-81394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-amazon","tag-black-business-friday","tag-carousel","tag-dr-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-faye-wilson-kennedy","tag-florin-square","tag-maddison-morian-brodeur","tag-mass-blackout","tag-rosa-parks","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-target","tag-walmart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC1148.jpg\")
Florin Square hosted Black Business Friday on Nov. 28. OBSERVER file photo<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC1117.jpg\")
More than 50 Black-owned businesses filled Florin Square on Nov. 28 for the first Black Business Friday. Russell Stiger Jr., OBSERVER<\/p>\n