Black Friday Reflections

Market instability.  Government bailouts.  Depression.  Recession.  War casualties.  Non-violent protesters assaulted by police. 

While these are familiar headlines in 2011, they are also the headlines associated with Black Fridays and other black days in history: 

·         On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, leading to a run on banks and precipitating what became known as the Great Depression.  Black Tuesday was so-named because it was the worst stock market crash in the history of the United States.

·         Sixty years earlier, September 24, 1869 was known as Black Friday for a financial panic caused by speculation on the Gold market, US currency backed by nothing but credit, and insider trading scandals.  Sound familiar?

·         In the UK, Black Friday refers to Friday, April 15, 1921.  The “Triple Alliance” between labor unions representing miners, seamen and railway workers unraveled over the failure of the seamen and railway workers to support the miners striking against reduced wages.

·         On the other side of the globe, Black Friday refers to Friday, January 13, 1939, when one of the worst wildfires in the world burnt almost 5 million acres of land in Australia.

·         Survivors of a failed World War II attack on a German destroyer referred to the February  9, 1945 operation as Black Friday because of the heavy losses sustained by the Allies.

·         In May 1960, on Friday the 13th, Berkeley, California police assaulted students at a sit-in protesting hearings held by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.  What started as a non-violent protest became a riot.  This Black Friday is identified with the birth of the protest movement in the 1960s. 

These “black” days all refer to bleak moments in history; moments to be commemorated, perhaps, but not celebrated.  How then, did “Black Friday” in the United States become associated with a shopping extravaganza, which now starts immediately after Thanksgiving dinner?  How did we shift from protesting the House Committee on Un-American Activities to the post-nine-eleven idea that the best thing we can do for our country is go shopping?  Until recently, Thanksgiving was the last of the holidays that were about family and fellowship; about giving thanks for what we have:  family, friends, health and happiness.  No more.  For many it has become about giving thanks for what we are going to get as soon as we scarf down that last piece of pie and rush to the mall to wait in line until the doors open.

The Friday-after-Thanksgiving has been the “kickoff” to the Christmas season for decades.  Among other things, this meant that people who work in retail could never go out of town for Thanksgiving because they had to work the next day.  Moving the shopping hours up, first to 12:01 a.m. Friday and now to 9:00 p.m. Thursday means they can’t even have a drink with their Thanksgiving dinner – because they have to leave for work.  And, it’s not just any workday: they’ll be up all night dealing with frenzied shoppers! 

It’s often said that history repeats itself. 

In 1960, the Black Friday riots were about free speech.  In 2011, the Black Friday riots are about freebies (buy one, get one free).