Ferguson protests take aim at Black Friday

Overnight, protesters turned out to disrupt post-Thanksgiving shopping throughout the St. Louis suburbs, chanting "No Black Friday!"

The National Guard patrolled outside a Ferguson Walmart, less than three miles from where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was killed, reports CBS News correspondent Vladimir Duthiers.

Protests erupted Monday after a grand jury decided to not charge Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson in Brown's death.

In Manchester and Brentwood, Missouri, crowds chanted through the aisles inside Walmart before police and security guards escorted the protesters outside.

Over the last four days, protests took place in over 170 cities nationwide, but in the lead-up to Thanksgiving organizers asked for supporters to turn their attention from protests to boycotts, and abstain from Black Friday shopping.

"There's one language that America understands -- it's the money," Rev. Timothy McDonald said.

Using the hashtags #blackoutblackfriday and #notonedime, activists took to social media, and urged people to use the power of their pocketbooks to direct their holiday shopping exclusively to black-owned businesses.

"It's standing up and coming out to these events and showing support and meeting people, and organizing, you know, all of that is going to take a stand," protester Dionne Hamilton said.

The buying power of African Americans is estimated to be about $1 trillion a year. The hope among protest leaders is that funneling some of that money away from corporate America, could speak louder than the protests have so far.

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