Panthers call 50-day boycott

The fallout from the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell continued as two separate protests were staged and the group the New Black Panther Party called for a 50-day boycott of all white-owned businesses.
The first rally on Saturday, December 9, organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), drew hundreds of demonstrators at its starting point at Jamaica Avenue and 168th Street. Among those marching in protest were Bell's aunt and a group of cousins.
The other protest, which ran concurrently, was led by members of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) and began at the site of the shooting at 94th Avenue and Liverpool Street in Jamaica.
&#8220We're here to bring the spirit of justice and launch a 50-day nationwide boycott of businesses that don't have a relationship with the black community,” said Imam Akbar, national minister of justice of the NBPP. &#8220We must close down traditional businesses and open them under Nubian management.”
Approximately 200 protesters came out to support Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, chair of the NBPP, as he told them, &#8220We are going to harass the hell out of this business power structure. We'll drive businesses to a halt and bring momentum to our movement.”
He went on to say, &#8220Police acting as criminal pigs can't be allowed to gun down our youth with impunity. Just as they served as judge, jury and executioner in killing Bell, these officers must be arrested, convicted, indicted and face the death penalty.”
After once again calling for the withdrawal of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Shabazz then announced the NBPP's &#8220community cop watch.”
&#8220We [the community] will patrol on foot, in cars, with notepads and cameras, to police the police that are killing our people,” he said.
&#8220We will sustain this long term. We cannot depend on the New York Police Department (NYPD) to defend us, we must defend ourselves.”
Shabazz then led the group down Jamaica Avenue, where they went to individual businesses and confronted shoppers as they exited the stores.
In the days following the onset of the boycott, on Saturday, December 9, some businesses said they were feeling a slight pinch.
&#8220There were a couple of bad days immediately following the boycott,” said Brian Smith, a white business owner of The New Future Laundromat in Jamaica. &#8220We would like to attribute that to the weather.”
The first weekend of the boycott, Smith explained, coincided with the first dip in the thermometer for the winter, with temperatures reaching as low as 24 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, December 9.
&#8220Coincidence or not, business did drop initially,” Smith said, estimating that he lost about 20 percent over the weekend.
Smith, who opened the laundromat with his brother, Stuart, nearly three months ago, said that should business continue to decrease, it could be a big problem for his startup shop.
For other stores in Jamaica, their business has remained steady.
&#8220Nobody listened to them [the NBPP],” said Harry El, who opened American Furniture on Jamaica Avenue 10 years ago. &#8220[Business] it has been the same thing.”
Iranian-born El described the boycott as the work of a few to unfairly target local businesses, and spoke about the international community of Jamaica.
&#8220There are people living here - black, white, Hispanic, immigrants, everybody -and you don't see any racism,” he said.
Ecuadorian Julio Picon, who has owned Latin Jewelry for the past 10 years, said that he hadn't heard much about the protest and that business had been about the same the previous weekend. When asked if he was worried about the boycott draining his business, he said, &#8220Of course, it would be a bad situation. Business is bad already.”
Either way, Smith said he would have a better gauge of the impact in the coming weeks. The boycott is scheduled to last through January 29, 2007.