Activists, union: Support only Black-owned businesses Monday
Social justice activists and a major labor union banded together Monday to keep attention on the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Las Vegas, activists focused on supporting only Black-owned businesses.
The move was part of a nationwide day of action in which thousands were expected to walk off the job in a “Strike for Black Lives.” Rallies, marches and strikes were planned in more than 20 cities across the country, according to a news release from Service Employees International Union Local 1107.
“As a leader in this union, a health care worker, a mother and a Black woman, I’m tired of the way things are,” SEIU Local 1107 Private Sector Vice President Zavia Norman said in a statement. “It is time we boldly declare that Black Lives Matter and to realize all the ways our fights for racial, economic, health care, immigration, climate and other justice fights are connected.”
Monday’s action comes nearly two months after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck while Floyd, a Black man, said he could not breathe. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests and an enduring conversation about police brutality and institutional racism.
“The movement for Black lives won’t stop until we reach true liberation,” Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Executive Director Laura Martin said in a statement. “The public lynching of George Floyd opened many eyes to injustices my community has had to endure for far too long. And a new wave of activism is sweeping the state to reimagine and fight for a world where we’re all free.”
The groups that backed the boycott also held a rally Monday in front of the Sawyer Building at Washington Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard North.
At its peak, the gathering drew about 100 people.
Michael Collins, a registered nurse at University Medical Center and union steward for SEIU Local 1107, told attendees that “white supremacy and economic exploitation have been inextricably linked” since the beginning of the United States.
“We can no longer ignore the deadly impacts of structural racism in America’s economy and democracy,” Collins told attendees.
Collins told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the most important thing for people to do is vote, especially in local races.
Organizers are planning to have people speak directly to elected officials at the Clark County Commission meeting Tuesday.
Monday’s boycott was supported by SEIU Local 1107, the NAACP’s local chapter, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and New Era Las Vegas.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
