NAACP boycott would further harm its victims

Published December 30, 2016

[caption id="attachment_6346" align="alignleft" width="150"] Rev. William Barber[/caption]

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, December 26, 2016.

The president of the North Carolina NAACP says he will ask the national NAACP to call for a national economic boycott of North Carolina.

The Rev. William J. Barber's call for a boycott was initially a response to the General Assembly's failure to repeal controversial House Bill 2, but he said it is also needed as a response to the way Republicans have carved up legislative districts in racially discriminatory ways.

Barber also said his group would file a lawsuit over HB2 and the failure to repeal it.

We appreciate the Rev. Barber's frustration. We share it - especially because HB2 is so much more than a "bathroom bill," as the governor and some other elected leaders insist on calling it. The law defines and sharply limits the civil rights protections offered by the state. In doing that, it essentially approves of discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people.

And the General Assembly's gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts has already been found racially discriminatory by federal courts, which have ordered redistricting and new elections next year.

By fumbling the HB2 repeal effort last week, lawmakers only intensified the pressure to get rid of the law, which has cost the state hundreds of millions and caused major corporations to step away from plans to expand here. We're confident that the issue will remain a priority when the General Assembly reconvenes for its long session next month.

So with the courts already acting and lawmakers pressed to pursue change, we see little benefit in an economic boycott, and some devastating unintended consequences. A boycott would hit hardest at the travel, tourism and retailing industries -which employ many of the NAACP's constituents. A boycott would hurt the working poor far harder than anyone else, and those are the people the Rev. Barber is working to help.

We urge the NAACP to step back from a boycott campaign and instead put redoubled efforts into public pressure and the courtroom, where the victories are already growing closer.

There are ways to reverse injustice without further harming its victims. A boycott isn't one of them.

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December 30, 2016 at 10:52 am
Norm Kelly says:

'A boycott would hurt the working poor far harder than anyone else, and those are the people the Rev. Barber is working to help.' Really?!

Properly worded that statement would look like this: A boycott would hurt the working poor far harder than anyone else, and those are the people the Rev. Barber is theoretically working to help.

Or it could look like this: A boycott would hurt the working poor far harder than anyone else, and those are the people the Rev. Barber claims he is working to help.

Exactly what has the good buffet slayer done in the past decade to 'help' his constituents? Other than trying to get more gov't 'assistance' to his flock, what? Other than making outrageous claims that his flock is incapable, what? Other than claiming that EVERYTHING done by Republicans is based on racial discrimination, what? Other than supporting EVERY demon pol, scheme, tax, give-away program, what? Can any sycophant in media explain what the Rev has done to HELP anyone? Or is it that being a good lib, a partisan hack, the rev doesn't actually have to accomplish anything.

Does the good rev and his allies in media remember when demon pols used gerry to get the number of blacks in a district 'just right'? Of course you don't, you are blind to lib schemes and manipulations. The snake district STARTED under demon pols using gerry to their advantage. Which media ally objected?

There's so little about the rev to admire or appreciate. One is left wondering why ANY media type pays any attention, let alone use him as a source for anything in a story. The only excuse I can come up with for media types paying attention to the rev beyond a simply allegiance is that they always support, defend, amplify their own, while at the same time making it look like their opposition is always wrong. Facts don't seem to matter so long as the subject is an ally.

Besides, accepting that the rev recognizes his boycott would harm the exact people he claims to want to help means you also have to accept that he's thought that far ahead. What in his history gives anyone this hope? Drop the mics and he'll slither away. Probably not quietly, but without an audience, he'd go back to preaching his hatred to a small group in a small church somewhere. If he can actually keep a small group when they hear his hatred and racism spew forth. Eventually blacks will realize how little he thinks of them. Eventually, when blacks catch on, it's possible though not probable that media types will let go of him also.