A group of Black faith leaders are pushing for a boycott of Target over recent rollbacks of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across corporate America.
From the steps of the historically Black Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., Bishop Reginald T. Jackson urged Black pastors to encourage their congregations to stage a massive nationwide 40-day protest of Target.
“We've got to tell corporate America that there's a consequence for turning their back on diversity," stated Bishop Jackson. “So let us send the message that if corporate America can't stand with us, we're not going to stand with corporate America.”
What is DEI?
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are initiatives designed to promote representation and fair treatment of historically marginalized groups within organizations and institutions. These programs aim to create inclusive environments by addressing systemic inequalities related to race, gender, disability, and other identity factors. DEI efforts often encompass policies such as affirmative action, diversity training, and the establishment of offices dedicated to fostering inclusivity.
However, corporate DEI programs – many of which were created in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 murder – have become a focal point of controversy in recent months. Critics argue that these initiatives can lead to reverse discrimination, asserting that prioritizing certain groups may inadvertently disadvantage others, particularly straight, white men.
They contend that merit-based systems should prevail, where opportunities are granted solely based on individual qualifications without consideration of demographic factors. Supporters of DEI, on the other hand, emphasize the necessity of these programs in combating entrenched biases and leveling the playing field for underrepresented communities.
Upon taking office, President Donald Trump – a longstanding critic of DEI – issued an executive order titled "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing," which mandated the termination of all federal DEI initiatives.
The administration justified this action by labeling DEI efforts as "illegal and immoral discrimination programs" that deviate from merit-based practices. This prompted many businesses and retailers to shutter their own DEI programs in response.
A Target Bullseye
Target was one of many businesses nationwide which recently ended their DEI programs. Not only did that mean closing its corporate DEI department, but also ending programs which focused on carrying more products from minority-owned businesses and partners.
Bishop Jackson criticized retailers like Target, Amazon, and Walmart for “kissing up” to President Trump by closing their DEI programs, and said that it’s time for Black Americans to ensure that “our money doesn’t go in their pockets.”
Black church leaders say it’s time to fight back and make an example out of Target, and hope that the bottom-line impact to Target will make retailers rethink their next move.
“If our diversity is not good,” said Bishop Jackson, “our money isn’t good.”
Will the Protest Work?
The boycott mirrors other politically-motivated boycotts in recent years. Target itself was the subject of boycotts from the other side of the aisle in 2023, when right-wing influencers called for a boycott of the company over their LGBTQ+ Pride clothing collection, which led to a double-digit drop in online revenue for the retail giant.
In that same year, Bud Light faced massive backlash over a brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and some estimates say the brewing giant may have lost upwards of $1.4 billion in revenue in 2023 alone.
Could this boycott have a similar effect? Bishop Jackson is hopeful that the protest will extend not only beyond church pews, not only beyond the Black community, but across America as a whole.
“I really hope that as we go forward… not only Blacks, but all those who are supportive of justice, will also join us in this effort to seek to redeem all that’s going on,” he explained. “‘I want you to do what’s right.’ That’s what we have to be able to say to corporate America.”
What do you think? Will the Target boycott work? And if it does, should corporate retailers reconsider their DEI rollbacks?
16 comments
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Stephen P Singleton
"Will the boycott work"??? That is NOT the Question! The whole concept of "Diversity and Inclusion" is to take one more step toward stamping out racial prejudice against non-whites. The very idea that PRIVATE companies can feel justified in taking steps backward toward Jim Crow apartheid just because The Clown King decrees it to be no longer mandatory turns my stomach. AND I'M WHITE AND I HAVE A TARGET RED CARD! I'm boycotting Just upon hearing this. I took that Oath when I accepted that commission as a 2nd Lt, to defend the Constitution. THEN for 40 years after I got out, worked with "at risk youth" (non profits that would surely be considered "waste" by Musk) teaching kids to NOT (continue) to be racist bullies. Diversity and Inclusion. People have to be mandated to treat everybody the same??? Are we not allowed "Children of the same God"? Or at least members of the same Human Race? Let's let Target and all the other businesses and Govt agencies that no one should have to be FORCED to do the right thing; that Good Will, common decency and Mutual Respect should just be the way we treat each other. Period. Thanks for letting me vent. Apologies for the Offended. ALOHA!
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Stephen P Singleton
(don't know how the word "allowed" got into the comment about being children of the same God)(Oh! It's supposed to be ALL)
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Stephen I love your reply. Just wanted to add that DEI is about so much more than racial bullying. It’s having rsmps and curb cuts along with automatic doors for people with physical limitations. Lots of other things, too.
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Chris
Good on them. I believe you shouldn't give your money to someone who wouldn't let you work for them. Any business who bowed down to an executive order was apparently just looking for an excuse to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion. I won't be shopping at or buying from specific places because of their policies and business practices.
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Many people have no idea of what Diversity Equity and Inclusion mean. They falsely think it’s about hiring a lesser qualified individual to fill an arbitrary quota. It’s much bigger than any individual characteristic such as color. It can mean hiring someone in a wheelchair, or someone who has no college degree. It could mean hiring a Spanish or French speaking person. It can mean hiring a woman or a transgender individual. It means kids seeing themselves represented in toys, games, books, movies it’s a big deal.
I have cut way down on shopping at Target because they are no longer committed to the values I hold.
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Anisahoni
Good and they are not the only group boycotting businesses. February 28 is the National Do Not Buy day. The sad thing is that most people do not realize what DEI includes- Women of all races/ethnicities, Veterans, Disabled including seniors, Learning Disabled people, Blind and hearing impaired, mobility issues are a few. Businesses benefit in the long run yet only ignorant people are offended by DEI.
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Najah P Tamargo
Najah Tamargo-USA
I say boycott all companies that refuse DEI employees!!!
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Rev. BH
Diversity - anybody, everybody.
Equity - treated fairly.
Inclusion - all are welcome to the table.
Where's the problem?
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Thunder
Comment removed by user.
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Thunder
The problem is that it's an excuse to openly hate and discriminate against cis-gendered heterosexual white men, even when they're the more qualified person for the job concerned. It also has fomented more racist backlash than it's eradicated, which is arguably part of the underlying purpose.
These days (pre-Trump) if you say anything that offends the feelings of someone who is not a cis-gendered heterosexual white male, then you can in plenty of cases be literally thrown in jail. Whereas the other minority groups have a free pass to say the most vile and threatening things about that demographic with impunity.
Moreover, the astroturf activist groups involved in promoting this ideology and policy, rarely if ever do anything positive to benefit the minorities they claim to serve, but more often end up embezzling the money into their own back pocket. A good example of that is the BLM leaders such as Patrisse Cullors and Dyane Pascall who instigated widespread violent riots which destroyed entire cities, while they bought themselves mansions with the money donated for the cause. Also ultimately it was backed by globalist oligarchs like George Soros who have anterior motives and use these tactics to destabilize nations and institute regime change (aka: color revolutions, et al). People who jump on the bandwagon based on the superficial saccharine platitudes are little more than useful idiots.
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Reverend Paula Copp
Hate to burst your bubble, thunder, but your entire argument is nothing but misinformation and propaganda. To say that your ideas are off base is an understatement, and I think KoolAid isn’t your friend.
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Rev. T.L. Hurd
If diversity leads to better results how come almost all pro basketball players are black? Those pro BBall managers pick the best, always, That's meritocracy.
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Colleen McAllister
Another reason for me to not shop at Target. DEI is needed whether a government sanctioned act or not.
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Cynthia Mandello
I find it humorous that a student of ASIAN descent was denied entry to Columbia not long ago because there were "too many Asian matriculated".
Wait until all those "straight white men" have to compete across a level field for entry into the top colleges (ignoring for the moment Alumni preference) and cannot beat the scores put up by persons of Asian or India descent.
They'll be screaming, and all I will say to them is, "there's plenty of opportunity for you doing roofing and in fields doing the stoop labor now that you systematically drove out migrant workers."
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Reverend Paula Copp
Well said.
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Thunder
The following succinctly exemplifies the types of people involved in modern activism, whether it be feminism, PoC, LGBTQ, or any other. It's certainly not limited to "coloured people".
"There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."
-- Booker T. Washington
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-intellectuals-and-the-boston-mob/
Joined, as a native american here to support.