Ferguson: Celebs call for 'Black Friday' boycott after shooting verdict

Los Angeles: US celebrities called for boycotting Black Friday – one of the busiest US shopping days – to protest against a grand jury’s decision not to prosecute a police officer who fatally shot a black teen in Ferguson, Missouri.

A number of well-known figures, among them hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, have signed onto the action, under the Twitter hashtags #NotOneDime and #BlackoutBlackFriday.

“We have the power to change our nation. Stand up with @UnitedBlackout on #BlackoutBlackFriday,” tweeted one of the supporters, actress Kat Graham, who stars in TV series “The Vampire Diaries.”

Also backing the campaign were TV star Jesse Williams and celebrated journalist Soledad O’Brien, among others.

“No Just, No Profit. Corporate/public power only speaks USD. So let’s talk to ’em,” Williams tweeted, along with a link to a video compilation of police brutality.

Black Friday is a day of deep commercial discounts and frenzied shopping which takes place each year after the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

The planned campaign calls for a one-day moratorium on spending to protest what it calls “staggering” human rights violations in the United States, including police brutality.

The boycott was prompted by widespread outrage after a grand jury on Monday failed to indict a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri who shot and killed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.

Protests erupted across the US after the decision.America’s 43 million black citizens will hold about $1.1 trillion in purchasing power by 2015, a Nielsen study said.

AFP