Why the Ferguson protesters marched on Walmart

The backlash to Ferguson isn't just about the actions of one cop. It's about a whole system of oppression.

Walmart protests
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster))

The protests surrounding the killing of Michael Brown have not been contained to Ferguson, Missouri.

Highways, bridges, and public transit systems were blocked in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. And on Black Friday, a day that was already slated for protest by Walmart workers and their supporters around the country, activists marched into major retail outlets as part of a call to boycott the biggest shopping event of the year. They held die-ins at Trader Joe's and shut down a mall in St. Louis. They chained together doors at a Seattle shopping center, and joined Walmart workers in D.C. to protest.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Sarah Jaffe is a staff writer at In These Times and the co-host of Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast. Her writing on labor, politics, the economy, and pop culture has been published at The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, The American Prospect and many other publications. You can find her work and more at adifferentclass.com.