L.A. boycott of Home Depot over ICE partnership

“It is our Duty to fight for Freedom!!! It is our Duty to Win!!!” – Assata Shakur, Veteran of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army

On July 3, a coalition of diverse organizations announced a boycott of the Home Depot, challenging the company’s collaboration with the discriminatory and unjust targeting of workers and immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). With the Home Depot at Western Ave. and Slauson Ave. as the backdrop, this coalition announced the boycott campaign and made the following demands:

1. STOP the immigration raids NOW! Stop the militarized assault on Los Angeles NOW!
2. Home Depot must prohibit all federal immigration agencies from accessing its stores and parking lots.
3. Protect day laborers NOW!
4. Justice for impacted families NOW!

Coalition Members had the following to say:

• “We are robbed of empathy if we only fight for a comfortable position in capitalism. We have to resist getting comfortable within capitalism. We have to hold onto our humanity and imagination. Capitalism does not inspire innovation; it leads to competition that limits our potential as a society. When we only create things for profit, our needs cannot be fully met and we are left in a cycle of exploitation. How we spend our money is a powerful statement, and as a collective that power becomes exponentially stronger. To come together to make a political statement against ICE, through the boycott of Home Depot, is to stand up against two entities that clearly do not care about workers,” Nicole, organizer, The Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice
• “The Home Depot makes billions of dollars from the labor of migrant workers, and they thank them by allowing the kidnappers to use their facilities to abduct them. All people of conscience should support the boycott to pressure the Home Depot to not allow ICE operations on any of their properties,” Ron Gochez, organizer, Unión del Barrio

Analysis

The toxic military apparatus of the U.S. empire is on full display in Los Angeles streets: collaboration between the LAPD, FBI, the National Guard, U.S. Marines, and increased ICE activity.  The fascist show of force in MacArthur Park on July 6 would be another prime example.

In Los Angeles alone, over 500 individuals have been kidnapped from their communities, with 17 reported deaths in custody. 

Let that sink in.

The ice cream cart of a vendor in my neighborhood was found after ICE kidnapped him.  A snapshot of fascist dystopia clawing at the self-determination and sanctity of our communities.

And what’s the response to our neighbors being racially profiled and swept up as criminalized waste?

I don’t have all the answers. This is not a “holier than thou” article.

But I did learn something from Malcolm X’s example and teachings. Even as a young child, he learned that if he wanted something, he had to make noise.

Today, People Power is alive and well in Los Angeles. Resistance thrives under the California sun, distinct from the propagandized entertainment industry. 

This is not a time for complacency and tacit acceptance of injustice. 

Instead, the organizations announcing this boycott have chiseled a line in concrete for The People to join and support. 

We must make our neighborhoods into our nation-states when fascism and authoritarianism rear their ugly heads.

This requires organization.

This requires demands.

This requires investments of time, resources, and effort.

The battle against ICE has necessitated the actions of this coalition. Let’s not forget the horrors and poison of the capitalist AmeriKKKan system that put a target on the backs of workers, immigrants, and our neighbors alike.

Another organizer asked me recently: “How would you want someone to show solidarity with you?”

I would want them to join my fight. Dignify my reality. Contribute to changing the material conditions that made the AmeriKKKan battlefield what it is.

This coalition has picked up the gauntlet to directly resist the combined forces of capitalism, xenophobia, greed, and injustice in Los Angeles and beyond.

Choosing to be a beacon of resistance on a hill of darkness.

Today’s press conference echoed how the resistance to the Trump administration must continue to evolve to meet the moment. 

Fighting for Freedom requires strategy.

Now it is The People’s choice whether to join this righteous fight.

“The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love,” Che Guevara

Let Revolutionary Love be the root of our actions for our neighbors.

BOYCOTT HOME DEPOT.

MELT ICE.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.