Nation of Islam leader calls for economic boycott of Charlotte

Not everyone is calling for peace after Charlotte’s night of violent protests.

B.J. Murphy of the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist political and religious organization, called for an African-American economic boycott of Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina.

“Don’t spend no money with no white folks that don’t respect us,” he said at a press conference with black leaders Wednesday.

Murphy said there has been no redress for the grievances of the black community, as young men are shot and killed. He said the discrepancy between various accounts of a deadly shooting on Tuesday — Keith Lamont Scott’s family said he had a book while police said he had a gun — demonstrates the need for “our own independent investigation.”

His comments came shortly after city leaders, including Police Chief Kerr Putney and Mayor Jennifer Roberts, urged the public to stay calm as authorities investigated the fatal police-involved shooting of Scott, 43.

During a separate press conference, Putney said Scott had a handgun — despite what his family told the media — and did not cooperate with the police officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He said Scott stepped out of his vehicle holding the gun, “posing a threat to the officers,” and was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson.

Slideshow: Protests erupt after deadly police shooting in Charlotte, N.C. >>>

Nation of Islam rep B.J. Murphy calls for an African-American boycott of Charlotte, N.C., businesses.
B.J. Murphy calls for a boycott of Charlotte, N.C., businesses by the African-American community in response to the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016. (Photo: Nell Redmond/AP)

Murphy encouraged black people not to shop at Charlotte business centers like the Northlake or SouthPark shopping malls or contribute to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a Charlotte-based athletic conference that consists primarily of historically black colleges. He said others should “feel the pain economically.”

“Since black lives do not matter for this city, then our black dollars shouldn’t matter,” he said. “Keep our money in our pocket — see, we’re watching modern-day lynching on social media, on television, and it’s affecting the psyche of black people. That’s what you saw last night.”

Overnight in Charlotte, near the apartment complex where Scott was killed, demonstrations became violent and resulted in police in riot gear coming to the site.

According to Murphy, the rioting was a natural result of justice not being served, and there will be more of it as long as that’s the case. He did not condemn or discourage the demonstrations that broke out overnight in response to Scott’s death.

“We’re not telling our brothers and sisters to stop. We’re not going to get out there and tell all y’all, ‘Oh, brother, you shouldn’t do that, you shouldn’t do this,’ when we ain’t getting no justice,” he continued. “Everyone in Charlotte should be on notice that today we’re tired of this bull. We’re tired of being killed and nobody saying nothing.”

He accused political leaders in the U.S. of lacking sympathy for the grief of the African-American community.

The Charlotte mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Murphy’s statements.