Activists and Community Leaders Call For St. Louis Boycott

ST. LOUIS, MO — A coalition of local activists and community leaders is calling for a boycott of some local businesses. Part of ongoing protests against the city for the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockely for murder in the shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black motorist, the group calls the campaign: "No Justice No Profit."

"Beginning today, we will launch an economic boycott campaign against any and all businesses that do not respect us as customers, who take for granted our vast spending power, and those who do not reciprocate by using our products and services wherever applicable," Rev. Dinah Tatman said Thursday during a press conference at West Side Baptist Church. "As responsible leaders of our community, we can no longer sit idly by while businesses small and large benefit from the dollars we pour into their coffers. As mainstreet America enjoys social and economic prosperity, our community continues to erode."

The boycott includes the St. Louis Galleria, an upscale shopping mall that has become a protest hotspot. Protesters called a series of arrests there in September violent and unnecessary. The mall hosts more than 165 stores and receives hundreds of thousands of customers every year. The group said the mall's economic impact is one reason for targeting it. "Richmond Heights gets half of its revenue from sales taxes," the group's website claims, and "the Galleria Mall is the largest tax payer."

Target Stores are another target of the campaign. "It’s time for us to go to the Economic Battlefield. We won’t help you rape our Heritage. They are stealing our legacy and trying to silence our contributions to their history. Don’t spend your money at Target," the group said on its website, pointing to a legal battle Target once waged to use the likeness of civil rights icon Rosa Parks on some of its merchandise.

Other businesses included in the boycott include Schnucks, a local grocery store chain, whom the group says is a large contributor to the Republican Party; the Delmar Loop, a commercial street in University City; and a Florissant Ave. Phillips 66 Gas Station, where a clerk fatally shot an unarmed black man, Christopher Simmons, after falsely accusing him of stealing a bag of candy this past September.

Target told the Associated Press that it works hard to "demonstrate inclusivity" in its business decisions, and Schnucks said in a news release that it was "surprised and disappointed" to be included in the boycott, pointing out that the chain donates around $13 million worth of food to local charities each year. Tax laws, however, mean much of that donated food can be written off.

No Justice No Profit highlighted some stark statistics related to African-American economic wellbeing and police brutality on their website, including the fact that African Americans are more than three times as likely to live in poverty as white people and also three times as likely to be killed by police. Further, "for every 1,000 people killed by police, only one officer is convicted of a crime," the website states, citing a 2015 study from the Washington Post and Bowling Green University.

"We have tried everything," Tatman said. "We have tried to vote. But when our communities are redistricted, when they are blighted with the tool of gentrification, our power is eroded."

The group has also tried protests and lobbying state and federal elected officials, Tatman said. She believes the boycott is the last tool available to black Americans who want to better their communities. "People tell us, 'Why don't you all invest in your communities? What are you doing about crime? What are you doing about unemployment?'

"We pay taxes," she said. "We participate in programs. We spend our dollars in other communities, other venues. And we have not received equitable return.... Just take a look at our neighborhoods. Look at the vast amount of vacant homes, deplorable streets and sidewalks, or no sidewalks.... Look at the rate of businesses that we own in our own communities. Look at how our children are being treated for minor infractions at school. Look at the amount of men and women in our communities that are incarcerated for minor infractions."

Since African Americans have not seen a return on their investments, Tatman said, they will withdraw those investments.

Watch the full press conference here

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images