Should black organizations boycott Florida?

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Inspiration for action?

Rather than cancelling these events, some hosting conferences in Florida now see the location as a potential source of inspiration for their leaders and members to plan recuperative strategies in the wake of Zimmerman’s acquittal.

“At a time when [reactions to] this verdict are taking place, our presence is needed to draw attention in the justice system to what happens to black males,” Bob Butler, Vice President of Broadcast for the National Association of Black Journalists, told theGrio on Sunday. Butler, who is also running for NABJ president, also noted that it would be prohibitively expensive for any black organization to pull out of a conference that is imminent.

In a separate statement, Scott Berry, Office Administrator of NABJ added, “Furthermore, The National Association of Black Journalists has a fiduciary responsibility to our association, a responsibility which requires a pragmatic approach. Rather than take action which would hurt our organization financially, we will continue to hold our annual convention as planned.”

For the National Bar Association, the location of their coming conference is less important than its aim to uplift.

“The NBA is committed to being where injustice occurs,” the organization’s president, John E. Page, wrote in an emailed comment to theGrio. Page elaborated that the conference will include “forums relating to Gun and Street Violence,” and potential involvement from state and federal legislators concerning the verdict.

“Let us not confuse the methods with the objectives,” Page stated.

TheGrio reached out to the NBPA for comment, but the organization did not respond by publication time.

Precedents for black boycotts

Those calling for an organized tourism boycott — whatever the financial losses to the organizations involved might be — believe it could be a potent means of forcing changes in the state’s gun and self-defense laws. Plus, there is a successful precedent for African-Americans seeking to use black tourism dollars to influence Florida politics.

In 1990, the Black Hospitality Initiative organized an African-American tourism boycott of Miami after Nelson Mandela was snubbed by local political leaders during a visit to the city. After 33 months, the Miami-area boycott resulted in a $50 million loss in revenue. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau responded by developing a plan to include African-Americans more thoroughly in the Miami-Dade County tourism industry, with lasting results.

Large African-American groups could also lead a comparable charge given the historic power of boycotts as a political instrument.

Perhaps the most famous civil rights boycott in U.S. history, the Montgomery bus boycott, was organized to protest the segregation of the bus system in the Alabama city in 1955. African-Americans in Montgomery united by withdrawing their financial participation in the city bus system for 381 days.

As a result, the Supreme Court ordered the bus system to integrate, and two heroes of the Civil Rights Movement were spawned: Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Likewise, boycotts of South Africa, and the world-wide shaming the boycotts constituted, were key to the dismantling of Apartheid.

Individual boycotts begin, despite qualms

Stevie Wonder’s decision to stop performing in Florida until Stand Your Ground is abolished there drew praise from Martin Luther King, III, who told attendants at the recent NAACP convention to acclaim on Wednesday: “We applaud Stevie Wonder, who said he will not come down to Florida until the law is changed. We may have to look at not consuming Florida orange juice.” (The NAACP convention was underway in Orlando when the Zimmerman verdict was announced.)

However, for now coming Florida boycotts are largely individual, rather than organizational.

“With the acquittal of Zimmerman, I cannot in good conscious ever vacation or visit the state of Florida ever again. I have two small grandchildren and they love Disney World, but they’ll just have to learn to love someplace else,” Lawrence Jackson wrote on the ”Vist Florida” Facebook page. This user’s statement is reflected in many similar public declarations online.

Conversely, not all members of black professional organizations agree that boycotts are the best means of political action.

“I think the most effective way that people can change things is to press lawmakers into changing the laws,” Sheryl Huggins, an NABJ member and editor-at-large at TheRoot.com, told theGrio. Many other members of African-American groups theGrio spoke to whose conferences will soon take place in Florida see direct action that systematically dismantles laws such as Stand Your Ground as a preferred means of change.

There is also concern over punishing innocent people who reside in the state by hobbling the local economy.

“I understand your stance,” wrote one user on Instagram in response to Mary Mary’s boycott statement. “Living here in Florida has been a struggle especially in times such as these. The thing which bothers me is everyone in the state become penalized [sic] for the actions of a few individuals. I’m asking you not to penalize everyone in Florida for the stupidity of these few.”

Many ways of making a change

Whether expressed through individual or collective action, the critical takeaway from this debate may be the importance of getting engaged in some way.

“For those that we have lost in the battle for justice, wherever that fits in any part of the world — we can’t bring them back,” Wonder further said when announcing his Florida boycott. The soul superstar stressed that there are various types of involvement.

“(What) we can do is we can let our voices be heard,” he said. “And we can vote in our various countries throughout the world for change and equality for everybody. That’s what I know we can do.”

Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter @lexisb.