KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Members of the community plan to rally downtown Kalamazoo in support of an “economic blackout.”
According to organizers, it’s a part of a nationwide effort to get the attention of lawmakers and President Donald Trump. People are encouraged against making any non-essential purchases on Friday, Feb 28.
One of the issues being protested is the president’s decision to “encourage the private sector to end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences,” which was an order aimed at federal agencies.
Big box retail stores like Target, Walmart, and Lowe’s followed the administration’s lead, choosing to roll back their own DEI initiatives.
“The top focus is Target, Hobby Lobby, Musk, Amazon, Facebook…We are making a statement that these billionaires cannot be corporate welfare. The help needs to be with people who are on Medicaid, the help needs to be with research for cancer, the help needs to be for children getting health care for school, lunches, for education,” rally organizer Michelle Zukowski-Serlin said.
Zukowski-Serlin referenced the president’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education, leaving school policies up to the states, fears of cutting the federal government’s share of spending for Medicaid, and tech mogul Elon Musk’s involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE.
“President Donald Trump is not listening to the American people. He is listening to the billionaires and the techies,” Zukowski-Serlin said, “so, what we are doing is making it clear by talking to him in the way he hears it–through money,”
According to an expert from Grand Valley State University (GVSU), protestors may need to put more of a focus on their issues in order to see change.
“If you’re trying to tell too many messages at one time, it makes it hard for that message to get delivered,” Associate Dean of the GVSU College of Business Paul Isely said. “In this case, they’ve sort of broadened the issue broadly enough that the firm is going to have a hard time saying what the problem is.”
Isely noted that blackouts like the one planned in Kalamazoo have worked in the past, but those have been effective due to a singular, clear issue being voiced and for an extended period of time. According to Isely, one day of not purchasing won’t necessarily hurt these corporations financially, but they could paint a picture of just how many consumers are unhappy.
“Then the corporation can say, ‘we saw a 20% drop in sales that day. We know that there’s a lot of consumers that that are trying to tell us something,'” Isely said.
Organizers encourage the public to shop with locally owned businesses if they must make a purchase, which Isely noted has the potential to positively affect Kalamazoo’s local economy.
The economic blackout rally will be held near the corner of Rose and Michigan Avenue in downtown Kalamazoo, in front of the old Kalamazoo County Courthouse from 12:00-1:30 p.m.
