We survived another Black Friday

Black Friday originally obtained that nickname from an accounting method, but many people began to feel that it had a more ominous meaning. For years, we’ve heard reports of grown adults fighting over merchandise, and people hurt in stampedes. I can remember the horror I felt when hearing about stabbings and shootings in stores and parking lots.

This fight in particular elicited a response from me:

I wrote to my friends and family how I felt: Black Friday melees remind me of the level of degradation from which our society is suffering. We may not be in classical Rome, but we certainly seem to be doing as the Romans did. It saddens me that anyone would want to actually endanger another person over a sale item. If you are celebrating a holiday of thankfulness, family, love, compassion, and giving, then why on Earth would you want to be selfish, mean, inconsiderate, and possibly hurt or kill someone (an act that takes them away from their family, or if you are hurt or arrested, takes you away from yours)? Personally, I wouldn't want a gift that was obtained in such a manner!

My feelings have not changed. However, although this year was not without incident, it does seem that the level of aggression displayed was not quite as high as last year. When I finally dared to peer at the news, I came across a website dedicated to listing the number of injuries and deaths obtained as a result of Black Friday each year since 2006.

At first, I couldn’t believe that there was a website called Black Friday Death Count, but it is enlightening to see the effects of selfish, bully-ish shopping, not just involving shoppers, but retail workers as well. According to blackfridaydeathcount.com, 2013 saw one death and fifteen injuries, while 2014 saw only four injuries (unless you count two that occurred in the UK). A death also occurred this year, but it was the result of an attempted murder/suicide that’s only relation to Black Friday was that the intended victim was working at the time.

I don’t know why I was surprised to see news of Black Friday that took place in Britain, but I guess I always thought of this as an American problem. This video clip is an excellent example of the frenzy created by large numbers of people trying to obtain a limited product confined in a comparatively small space. A scenario that, according to UK newspaper The Independent, induces primal violent-based behavior.

With all the mayhem involved in Black Friday, it comes as no surprise that it would spark boycotts and strikes. For the third year in a row, unionized Walmart employees took advantage of this crucial event to collectively bargain for increased wages and improved working conditions. The Huffington Post interviewed Charles Brown, a member of the union called OUR Walmart.

He told them, “Some may want to do a strike as well but are hesitant. They need to know they don't have anything to be afraid of. If we don't stand up, no one else is going to stand up for us.”

While Walmart employees were initiating their strike, and indomitable consumers were setting up camp outside department stores, others were gathering to boycott. While you might expect some people to taunt Black Friday campers for their ill focused consumerism, that’s not what the boycotters in Chicago were espousing. They gathered together at the Water Tower Plaza to encourage shoppers to boycott with them in a continued effort to display their disapproval of the Ferguson grand jury decision to not indict Officer Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown.

“We’re in a system that values black dollars, but not black bodies. So we want to send a message on this day, particularly for everybody, to not spend money on a system that will not deliver justice,” Malcolm London, of the Black Youth Project 100, told CBS local news.

Of all the responses I’ve seen to Black Friday, starting a simultaneous, yet opposite holiday is the best yet. And what could be the opposite of Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year? Buy Nothing Day, of course. If you think you’d like to celebrate or participate in Buy Nothing Day, you can learn more about it at buynothingday.co.uk. I traditionally don’t leave my house on Black Friday, but now I have something official to call it! All along I’ve been celebrating Buy Nothing Day and didn’t even know it.

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