TOPLINE
Business operators who police the appearance of their workers or customers expressing concern over racism and injustice are finding themselves facing an economic backlash, as protesters continue expressing themselves following the televised death of George Floyd.
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2020/06/13: A woman wearing a protective mask with ... [+]
KEY FACTS
In Prince George’s County, Md., a majority-black suburb of Washington D.C., a local seafood restaurant called the Fish Market of Maryland has been closed since late June, according to the Washington Post, after a black patron said he was told by the owner he could not wear an “I Can’t Breathe” T-Shirt in the restaurant, sparking a boycott.
The owner, Rick Giovannoni, who is white, could not be reached for comment Friday by Forbes, and the restaurant voicemail inbox was full, but would-be patron Daryl Rollins said the owner told him, “You can’t wear that shirt in my establishment,” a charge that went viral on social media.
Calls for a boycott of Austin-based Whole Foods picked up steam after seven Massachusetts workers were sent home June 25 after they showed up to work wearing BLM masks, the Boston Globe reported.
The Amazon-owned grocery chain, which has seen small protests at Cambridge, Mass., locations according to media reports, said in a statement to Forbes that “to operate in a customer-focused environment, all Team Members must comply with our longstanding company dress code, which prohibits clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related.”
Wawa, Inc., the Pennsylvania-based chain of convenience stores, changed its policy and allowed workers to wear Black Lives Matter pins, after a worker said he was told last month that employees were not allowed to wear anything with “Black Lives Matter,” and the worker’s father posted about the episode on social media, according to NJ.com.
Last week, a family in Russellville, Ark, said their 6-year-old daughter was kicked out of daycare because of her “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt, according to Fox16 News, which lead to a string of negative reviews on Yelp.
crucial quote
“We deserve better. It’s not just this one isolated incident — this is about serving notice to other business owners that this is what is going to happen if we are not respected.”
key background
African-Americans, who’ve endured school sanctions over dreadlocks and repercussions for T-shirts and masks, are speaking out in growing numbers about the “policing of Black appearance,” as part of the global reckoning over race sparked by the death of Floyd under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.
Some social media posts detailing specific encounters have prompted localized boycotts while larger, more coordinated efforts such as #BLACKOUTDAY2020 have looked to harness the multi-trillion-dollar buying power of people of color to prod businesses into making improvements.
“Black people realize that their $1.5 trillion purchasing power can have a substantial impact towards equitable change,” Kenneth L. Harris, president and chief executive of the National Business League, an organization that supports Black-owned businesses, told Forbes. “Corporations and major brands that don’t respect Black [patronage] through real equity and inclusion, are seeing the devastating effect economic boycotts can have on a company’s bottom line. It is a new day.”
further reading
Calls for Whole Foods boycott grow after employees wearing BLM masks are sent home (NY Post)
