CARSON: Why Boycotting Florida Would Hurt Everybody In The Wake Of The Zimmerman Verdict

Recent calls to impose an economic (or in the case of celebrities, a personal) boycott on the state of Florida because of dissatisfaction with the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial need to be reconsidered. Certainly, boycotts can be powerful weapons, especially in a free-market economy. However, they need to be utilized appropriately and with great wisdom rather than in a reactionary way without thorough consideration of the ramifications.

In the mid-1950s, Montgomery Ala., was a bastion of racism. One of the manifestations of systemwide discrimination against blacks was the rule that blacks had to sit in the back of the bus — even though they paid the same fare as everyone else. This long-standing tradition was tolerated but despised by generations of hard-working black citizens, who had grown accustomed to being treated unfairly. Fortunately, a young, very wise leader appeared on the scene and, at a series of church rallies, was able to explain to the black community the economic power they possessed if they collectively decided to withhold those bus fares and walk or carpool. They also boycotted many unfair merchants throughout the city. Initially, those being boycotted tried to pretend that this would have no impact whatsoever on them, but Dr. Martin Luther King and other wise leaders held the boycott together month after month until the racist establishment yielded to economic pressure and changed their de facto rules.
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