Major U.S. Retailers Looking Forward To "African-American Friday"

For many American retail giants,
Black Friday is becoming a thing of the past.

Baltimore, MD

The National Retail Federation announced today that it has reached an historic agreement with the NAACP (National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People) which will make an annual tradition more hospitable to the country's African-American population.

There are many traditions surrounding American thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing, potatoes, egg nog and apple pie. But for years, "Black Friday" has tarnished the holiday. Black Friday is the day during which millions of Americans line up early in order to take advantage of retailers often blockbuster deals on products. However, for many years now, the sentiment has been rising that calling it "Black Friday" is tantamount to a racial slur.

"Black Friday has been an ugly mark on American society for too many years," said NAACP CEO Cornell Brooks, when reached by The North American at the organization's headquarters in Baltimore. "Calling it Black Friday, to us, is like calling something Eskimo Tuesdays or Jap Mondays; it's not politically correct or morally correct anymore."

Negotiations between the NRF and the NAACP began months ago, and many heavyweight retailers, for the first time, are advertising this coming Friday as "African-American Friday." Among the participating retailers include Walgreens, Macy's, and J.C. Penney.

When contacted via Skype on Tuesday, Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren outlined some of the changes that African-American customers will notice. "For starters, we've instructed all of our stores to, for a day, play classic African-American music instead of Christmas music. Artists will include Drake, Kanye West, and Nat King Cole. Also, our employees have been told to temporarily put a moratorium on discreetly following African-American's around the store, ensuring that they don't steal anything; this may come across as unwelcoming. Finally, cashiers have been instructed to accept an African-American person's good faith when they go to purchase more expensive items, instead of the normal practice of giving them that well-meaning glance that says, in effect, "Oh honey, I don't think that's for you, you can't afford it."

From Our Baltimore Bureau