The radical New Black Panther Party launched a nationwide boycott of “Chinese merchants” on Tuesday — including restaurants, beauty salons, and other businesses — to protest China’s treatment of Africans, among other grievances.
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz announced the boycott campaign, which he also described as part of a “Buy Black Offensive,” as a protest against discrimination in the People’s Republic of China, as well as the behavior of Chinese companies in Africa.
The protests targeted over a dozen businesses across the country, none of which had any apparent affiliation with the Chinese government.
For example, one group of protesters held a demonstration outside Yum’s in Washington, DC, a popular local eatery. (The founder came to the U.S. from Hong Kong in 1979.)
Breitbart News live-streamed some of the protests in Washington, which included several Black Panther activists trampling a Chinese flag.
Breitbart News’ Matthew Perdie and Jack Knudsen captured the D.C. group in Washington’s Chinatown.
Shabazz also staged a press conference outside the Chinese embassy, at which he called Chinese merchants the “bloodsucker of the black community.”
Shabazz issued a press release listing the targeted businesses. At his press conference, he singled out the Red Star Restaurant in Harlem, New York City, vowing to “shut it down.”
He live-streamed from the Red Star several hours later, apparently having made the trip, filming outside and inside the restaurant as organizers attempted to inform customers about the protest and hand a memorandum to the owner.
Shabazz then live-streamed several times from the protest itself, including after police officers arrives on the scene.
Shabazz’s press release blamed the Chinese government for “vicious human rights violations; anti-Black racism of Africans living in China; supplying the Black community with poor quality and substandard food; exploiting the local retail market; refusing to hire Blacks; rude and disrespectful treatment; and failure to assist community organizations.”
The release further explained that the protests were aimed at “local Chinese business outlets that are open during the pandemic,” with the message that “Harm to Africans in China can bring Harm to Chinese in America.”
The protests were timed to coincide with Malcolm X’s birthday.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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