“Today we come to announce a boycott to begin on Wednesday, April 7th. This boycott is against Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Home Depot. It may expand to include UPS, Aflack, Georgia Power and UBS.
Let me be clear, this boycott is not what we want to do. These are fine companies. In 2019 before the pandemic I took almost 100 flights on Delta Airlines. I consider Delta my airline. I drink Coca-Cola products, especially Dasani water, Barq’s Root Beer and Sprite. My wife spends a lot of money at Home Depot. This boycott is not something we want to do, it is something we have to do.
THE question is why? The home of these corporations is Georgia. And these corporations did not speak out publicly or take a public position on SB 202 before it passed. In fact Delta Airlines wrote an in house memo that praised SB 202 claiming that it was considerably improved. The chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola said in June of last year that “our company can do better, we must stand as allies with Black Lives Matter and other social justice causes.”
Well, when it had a chance to publicly stand with Black and Brown people it did not. Home Depot has said nothing. Black and Brown people all across this country and around the world pay billions of dollars for their products and fill their coffers. Well we cannot and will not support the companies who do not support us in our struggle to cast our ballots and exercise our freedom. And we cannot support companies who support or remain silent about legislation that is based on a lie, seeks to suppress our vote, is racist and seeks to turn back time to Jim Crow.
We will vigilantly and strongly seek to get Black and Brown citizens, and all Americans who are committed to freedom and equality, and to protecting and strengthening this democracy to boycott, to not give our money to support companies that do not support us. These companies have a corporate responsibility to oppose anything that threatens to make it harder for people to vote. Many corporate companies failed this responsibility, and consumers must now hold them accountable.
We have scheduled the boycott to begin on Wednesday, April 7. This is for a particular reason. It is our hope to meet virtually with the Chairman / CEO’s of these companies to discuss this matter, to get them to change their positions, and to do four things to win the confidence of American citizens and to halt passage of any legislation that seeks to suppress the vote of Black and Brown citizens. These four things will cause us to end the boycott.
Those things are:
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Publicly, possibly through a press conference announce their opposition to SB 202 and seek to have the legislation reconsidered.
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To speak out against legislation proposed in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Texas and other states with the intent to suppress the votes of Black and Brown voters. The Republicans have launched a national campaign to suppress votes and make it harder for Black and Brown people to vote. There are 361 bills to restrict voting rights in 47 states. These companies which are national and international must be engaged in a national effort to defeat this attempt. They have the resources to wage an effective campaign to fight these bills.
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Publicly express these companies’ support of HR 1 (For the People Act) and HR 4, (Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019) federal legislation which blocks much of what has passed in Georgia and is included in state legislation.
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Support litigation against SB 202 seeking to have legislation ruled unconstitutional.
If they commit and act to do these things we will end the boycott.
There are other Georgia companies that have not spoken out against this legislation. We will reach out to, and urge them to come out publicly against these bills that seek to suppress Black and Brown votes. If they do not, we will plan to boycott them. They are AT&T, Aflac, Georgia Power and United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). We will try to include them in our meetings. They, too, must do the four things listed above.
We are prepared to do what we must do to inform the nation about this boycott and make it effective. This includes:
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Engage Black Legislative Causes across the nation and a Strategic Direct Action Campaign
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Establish Message Discipline for a National Campaign
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Include National Civil Rights Organizations as supporters of the Boycott. They include National NAACP, National Action Network, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Urban League.
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We will also reach out to the Divine Nine, Masons and Eastern Stars.
Our focus is on a corporate boycott. Each individual makes a decision not to purchase or spend their dollars with any of the boycotted corporations.
Bishop Reginald Thomas Jackson is the presiding prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church which encompasses over 500 churches in the state of Georgia.
This speech was edited for length.
