Coca-Cola. Netflix. Google. Apple. Amazon. McDonald’s. Starbucks. These are just a handful of the US mega-brands that many of us use or spend money on every single day. But for some Brits, that’s no longer the case. They might not be able to let President Trump know exactly what they think of his policies, but what they can do is put their money where their mouth is and boycott American companies.
… “Even Americans themselves are saying the best way to help them is to boycott,” Caroline adds. “We should listen to that.” Because “America is driven by cash”, she argues, “we need to speak its language. People think boycotts don’t work, but they do if we take collective action”.
For support worker Sally*, the catalyst was the heartbreaking image of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, seen around the world last week. The youngster, pictured wearing a blue bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack, was taken away from outside his home in Minneapolis last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers last week, along with his father, Adrian.
The family had an active asylum case after arriving in the US from Ecuador, and had no deportation order against them, according to their attorney. The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, described Liam’s father as an “illegal alien”. “I cannot get his face out of my mind and felt I had to do something,” she says.
The boys name is Conejo Ramos, he and his father are now in a torture detention center in Texas. Texas is the only state that has places to incarcarate young children like Conejo Ramos.
“The details are part of a lawsuit where the government is attempting to end protections for children. Declarations from families held at the facility in Dilley, which was reopened in March, described persistently cloudy water, delayed medical attention and long periods of time children are being detained.
Allegations of children fighting adults for clean water, distraught children and a protracted medical response first surfaced during the summer while the federal government asked a federal judge to end a policy protecting immigrant children.
Detainees are allowed to buy staples like bottled water for $1.21 from the commissary.
“I have never heard until now of children having to buy water,” said Welch, who has been visiting children in custody of CBP and the Office of Refugee Resettlement for eight years.
Families face costs as high as $5.73 for deodorant, $1.44 for soap, and $2.39 for toothpaste, Welch said in court documents. A single dose of Tylenol costs $1.30, she said.
A child with a stomachache waited six hours for a nurse and wasn’t taken to a hospital with appendicitis until he vomited, court documents said. Another child fell on his arm and it wasn’t until two hours later that the staff drove him to a hospital for an X-ray.
Fity-five year-old author and speaker Vie Portland has taken a similar approach. “When Trump came into power again, we didn’t want to do anything that would line his and his allies’ pockets, so we started exploring more companies [to boycott],” she says.
She has since stopped buying from the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, instead going for soft drinks from Salaam Cola, Karma Drinks or UK-based companies. Domino’s, Papa Johns, Starbucks and Costa (owned by the Coca-Cola Company) are also on her no-buy list.
Help us save America, the billionaires only care about money, some exceptions, but not with this president that we have.
