Boycotts Quotes

“This morning Reverend [Martin Luther] King invited me to attend a meeting of the protest committee. The committee decided not to hold any more mass meetings but only prayer meetings. This was to emphasize the moral nature of the struggle. The meetings will center around five prayers:

A prayer for the success of the meeting.

A prayer for strength of spirit to carry on nonviolently.

A prayer for strength of body to walk for freedom.

A prayer for those who oppose us.

A prayer that all men may become brothers to live in justice and equality.”
― Bayard Rustin, Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin

“We’ve carried our picket signs in demonstrations, preached hellfire and brimstone on the corner of every major city in America, and boycotted major corporations in the name of God. We’ve ignored the simple truth of honor that literally transformed entire kingdoms in the days of Daniel and Joseph. Because Daniel and Joseph demonstrated honor to the pagan kings they served, both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar eventually acknowledged the hand of God on their lives.”
― Kris Vallotton, The Supernatural Ways of Royalty: Discovering Your Rights and Privileges of Being a Son or Daughter of God

“A boycott suggests an economic squeeze, leaving one bogged down in a negative. But we were concerned with the positive. Our concern would not be to put the bus company out of business, but to put justice in business.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

“As I thought further I came to see that what we were really doing was withdrawing our coöperation from an evil system, rather than merely withdrawing our economic support from the bus company. The bus company, being an external expression of the system, would naturally suffer, but the basic aim was to refuse to coöperate with evil. At this point I began to think about Thoreau's Essay on Civil Disobedience. I remembered how, as a college student, I had been moved when I first read this work. I became convinced that what we were preparing to do in Montgomery was related to what Thoreau had expressed. We were simply saying to the white community, 'We can no longer lend our cooperation to an evil system.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

“During the rush hours the sidewalks were crowded with laborers and domestic workers, many of them well past middle age, trudging patiently to their jobs and home again, sometimes as much as twelve miles. They knew why they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew that there is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

“A second basic fact that characterizes nonviolence is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncoöperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story