UPDATE 1-Ferguson protesters surprise Macy's Black Friday shoppers in NYC

[LiberalElite]

Source: Reuters

Nov 28 (Reuters) - More than 200 people angered by a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sought to disrupt Black Friday shopping in New York with a protest in front of Macy's flagship store.

A small group of the protesters took their rally to the Manhattan department store's ground floor for a few minutes, as staff and shoppers seeking post-Thanksgiving bargains looked on in apparent surprise. Some shoppers took pictures of the protests with their cell phones.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/usa-missouri-shooting-new-york-idUSL2N0TI1KR20141128

[RufusTFirefly]

1. What do civil rights have to do with shopping??

Everything.

I bet it's making the PTB very uncomfortable that people are making this link.

They were similarly uncomfortable when MLK made an explicit connection between civil rights, labor rights, and an unjust war.

[CBHagman]

2. Well, if the objective is to prevent shooting unarmed people, reform police departments...

...and ensure the just and fair treatment of all people in the United States, citizens or otherwise, I can't say blocking shoppers at Macy's would be the means to achieve that, any of it.

[RufusTFirefly]

6. As long as people are prevented from buying their precious gizmos...

... this issue isn't going to be swept under the rug.

It's an effective, non-violent way to keep this from being covered over by the latest celebrity gossip.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. Nonsense.

I would think most people think they were protesting rampant consumerism instead of racism. I know when I first read of it, that's what I thought. If I went next door here and blocked the entrance to the Dollar General to protest racism or perhaps a lack of firearm regulations, people would think I have too much time on my hands and suspect I'm unstable. Certainly it's no way to gather public support.

As for being unable to sweep the issue under the rug, how about that lumpy carpet that was left behind after the fruitless Occupy Wall Street protest? Maybe they're still there. Who knows?

[RufusTFirefly]

10. Haha! You need to check in to a corporate media detox facility

When you get out, let's talk.
I look forward to it. Truly.
But you need to get dried out first.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. Sorry I missed all the banking reform we got from OWS

Certainly the 1% is still shaking in their Florsheims from the nearly 18 months of protest.

I don't have much time for rehab anyway. Tomorrow I have to spray grafitti on the skating rink to end global hunger and Monday is my weekly picket duty at Mickey Dees to end the war on drugs. Can't say I haven't seen progress for my effort. haha

Shutting down the transit system in one city for a couple hours to end racism is just as pointless.

[KingCharlemagne]

8. I'll bet the shareholders of Macy's (those who control very large blocks of the company's

stock) are doing some serious yakking with the Board of Directors and, knowing how these things are so often cross connected, Dept. of Homeland Security and other security services.

It's not 'blocking shoppers at Macy's,' it's more like 'fucking with Macy's profits from its store operations.' See, you've got to think like a capitalist if you want to move the levers of capitalist power. The only thing the capitalist pigs understand is the language of the almighty $.

Take the model and apply to Target, to WalMart, to BestBuy . . . ad infinitum. Are you starting to get the picture?

Why I'll bet whispers have already started in the corridors of St. Louis County power brokers that Bob McCulloch's contributor base is starting to dry up and blow away. Poof. Gone with the wind. And then one of those power brokers will take it upon him or herself to explain to Bob McCulloch that, dude, you've got to step down so we can get back to the business of making money.

[lib87]

3. These Protests are Working

The protestors are getting heard by causing an inconvenience to the shoppers and stores. The media is picking it up, forums like this one are talking about it, thinking about it and keeping the issue fresh in everyone's minds instead of quietly going away.

I hope all groups (Including wage protestors) keep it up.

[RufusTFirefly]

5. +1

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Hold it now...

See #shutitdown hashtag on Twitter for the real news, y'all.

[joealexander]

7. I was there today

And the protests were going strong into the evening. The auxiliary benefits to this kind of protest is that so many tens of thousands of people, in town, vacationing from various parts of the country/world, see and hear this issue, first-hand; unfiltered and unslanted from the local news they're stuck with at home. There were LOTS more than 200 people. The protesters were eloquently and peacefully voicing their concerns. That's not always the message that makes it to the "heartland".