May 1, 2006 7:25 pm US/Central
Some Local Business Owners Hold 'Anti-Boycott'
by Eileen Gonzales
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
The economic boycott became more of a personal issue for some north Texas business owners and a thorn in the side of people like Ronald Ashcraft.
As a member of Citizens for Immigration Reform, he doesn't support the quest of protesters. In fact, he considers himself part of the 'anti-boycott'.
"Everybody I know is going to go and spend money today. All the citizen friends of mine are going out and spend a lot of money today. And I think it may be a wash after it's all over. It may be totally ineffective."
Ashcraft says he's not racist, but believes immigrants should come to the United States legally.
Now he wants to start his own boycott. "Against any travel to Mexico, for travel… against tequila, of buying tequila… Mexican food, any Mexican manufactured goods… even including those that have Mexican parts in them. I think would a suitable response the rest of the year," Ashcraft said.
The boycott meant big financial losses for business owners who decided to close their doors.
Stephen and Donica Justynski, who own Cafe Madrid, also thought the boycott was a bad idea, but for other reasons.
They say their decision to stay open and not give employees the day off was purely financial.
"We're a small business and we can't afford to lose employees," Donica says. "By just walking off the job, that's the wrong way ethically to go about making a statement. I think they're biting the hand that feeds them."
Employees were warned they would be fired if they took the day off without having their shifts covered.
In east Dallas, most stores and shops were closed but some business owners did choose to remain open.
Many business owners said they believe the boycott was a bad idea and weren't willing to sustain the financial losses. However, most didn't want to make their opinions public. Instead, they decided to treat a day without immigrants just like any other day.
(CBS 11 News)
