Target is still having a rough go of it since the company announced back in January that it was ending its DEI initiatives, including a three-year program that focused on building Black careers. The decision by Target, which appears to coincide with the Trump administration’s white nationalist warpath on all things diversity, equity and inclusion, has resulted in multiple nationwide boycotts that appear to have successfully affected the retail chain’s bottom line. (Not that Target has been willing to acknowledge the boycotts as even part of the reason for its plummeting stock value or revenue decline.)
Months later, the backlash against the anti-DEI stance Target has recently taken is still so fierce that the company had to shut down commenting on its TikTok account because too many commenters were advocating for the boycotts and for consumers to spend their money with Target’s competitors who have not bowed down to white supremacist MAGA pressure, namely Costco.
Of course, Target can stop people from commenting on its social media pages all it wants, but it can’t do anything to stop people, especially Black people, from divesting their dollars or campaigning for massive boycotts.
Just ask Atlanta-based pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant, who, for weeks, has kept his foot placed squarely on Target’s neck by organizing boycotts against the company, as well as a “buy-in” campaign for its pro-DEI competitors.
In fact, according to the Birmingham Times, the New Birth Baptist Church pastor recently reported that the campaign he helped launch against Target has received robust national support.
From the Times:
The fast-selective-buying campaign, which began during the Lent Season from March 5 to April 17, targets what Bryant describes as the company’s neglect of the Black community. According to Bryant, the boycott has mobilized over 150,000 participants and persuaded over 100 Black vendors to withdraw their products from Target. The movement has led to a $12 drop per share in Target’s stock and a $2 billion decrease in its overall value.
“We just hit 150 thousand people who have signed up to be part of it, with over 100 black vendors that pulled out of Target, so the momentum is going steadily,” Bryant explained.
The NAACP and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, have simultaneously announced the planning and implementation of a national public education and selective buying campaign in response to Target and other corporations that have dismantled their respective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments, programs and staffing.
“Now is the time for the Black Press of America once again to speak and publish truth to power emphatically,” NNPA Chairman Emeritus Danny Bakewell Sr. explained.
“We are the trusted voice of Black America, and we will not be silent or nonresponsive to the rapid rise of renewed Jim Crow racist policies in corporate America,” said NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry Sr. “The Black Press of America continues to remain on the frontline keeping our families and communities informed and engaged on all the issues that impact our quality of life.”
Yeah — Target probably would have been much better off quietly eliminating its DEI practices instead of making a big announcement about it around the same time President Donald Trump made a big public show of signing executive orders to end DEI in the federal government. For the company, it was a horrendous PR move, but for Black people, it was just the information we needed.
Bryant told the Times that, despite the success of the boycott, there have been no meetings scheduled between his organization and the retail giant, which he suggested is probably due to pressure from the White House.
“No, we’re waiting. As we understand it, the administration is trying to get them not to meet and is hoping that this is just going to taper off,” Bryant remarked. “But unless President [Trump] is in trouble and buys a whole bunch of toilet paper, I don’t know what they expect the White House to do for them.”
It can’t be emphasized enough that neither Target nor any other privately owned company was ever under any obligation to follow Trump’s unofficial marching orders. These companies made choices — their own choices — and now it appears those choices have come back to bite them.
Hopefully, Black and POC consumers and organizers across America will stay the course.
MAGA is just “wokeness” for white supremacy, and we should fight it as relentlessly as GOP leaders work to make America regress again.
SEE ALSO:
Jackie Robinson’s Army History Erased From Department Of Defense Website As Trump’s DEI Purge Continues
Trump’s Anti-DEI Order Ends Clause That Explicitly Prohibits Racially ‘Segregated Facilities’
Target Boycotts Increase As Company Suffers Backlash Over Anti-DEI Policy
was originally published on
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