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Target faces a possible 40-day nationwide boycott after the retail giant ditched its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives following Preisdent Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Approximately 110,000 people, including many parishioners at Black churches, have signed up to join the “Target Fast” which began on Wednesday, aligning with the first day of Lent, according to the Washington Post.
Consumers pledging to abstain from shopping at Target are instead being urged to spend their money at Black-owned businesses. This boycott is the latest headache facing the retail giant with CEO Brian Cornell admitting this week that prices are likely to increase for customers as a result of Trump’s Mexico tariffs.
Prominent Christian and civil rights leaders such as Jamal Bryant, a senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, is among the movement’s leaders and is calling for “spiritual resistance.”
Target Fast organizers are asking people to “divest” from the chain claiming that its DEI rollback demonstrates a pattern of “a deeper erosion of the moral and ethical commitments necessary to build a just society,” its website reads.
Jamal Bryant (R) photographed with former Vice President Kamala Harris at his church in October 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
“The advances made during the civil rights movement are being pushed backwards with the cancellation of DEI,” Bryant told The Post. “This generation owes it to the previous generation to fight to try to make America great, which is only happening through diversity.
Before it scaled back its DEI efforts, Target was long considered a leading advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people in the retail space.
Target was one of dozens of Fortune 500 companies to announce it would scale back its DEI policies after Trump issued a sweeping executive order banning DEI initiatives across the federal government two days after returning to the White House on January 22.
Amazon, Google, Meta, McDonald’s and Walmart also began winding down their DEI programs in recent months, sparking backlash from many consumers.
President signed an executive order calling for DEI programs to be dismantled across federal government (AFP via Getty Images)
Target announced it was eliminating hiring goals of minority employees and dismantling a committee focusing on racial justice while culling other initiatives on January 24.
The company also said it would terminate initiatives aimed at improving the representation of Black businesses and suppliers and said it would stop submitting information to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, which evaluates LGBTQ+ corporate policies.
“I was shocked because they made a commitment to invest in Black businesses upward of $2 billion after the death of George Floyd,” Bryant said, referring to Target’s 2021 pledge to add products from more than 500 Black-owned businesses by 2025.
The company, however, said it remained committed to “creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities,” while stressing the importance of “staying in step with the evolving external landscape.”
The boycotts come as Target faces pressure from what the company calls “tariff uncertainty,” Trump’s 25 percent import taxes on goods from Mexico and Canada went into effect Tuesday.
Tariffs on Mexico may force Target to raise prices on fruits and vegetables as soon as this week, Cornell told CNBC Tuesday.
