WASHINGTON—Since the beginning of the new Trump administration and the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the public and private sectors, major boycott campaigns have been called by civil rights leaders and social media influencers.
In February, led by Nina Turner, the former Ohio congressional rep, a boycott was called on Target for dropping its DEI programs. The company was one of the first to institute new DEI policies in the wake of the massive nationwide protests after the killing of George Floyd. Target invested $2 billion in the effort at the time.
On Feb. 28, there was a one-day national economic boycott targeting several big businesses, Target among them, that have dropped their diversity programs and supported the Trump administration’s assault on working class people. By the end of February, Target’s stock plummeted by approximately $27.27 per share, about $12.4 billion in market value.
Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, launched a 40-day Target Fast that started on Ash Wednesday. The NAACP has also sent out a “Black Consumer Advisory” to “inform and caution Black consumers about the ongoing and intentional rollback of nationwide DEI commitments by corporations and institutions.” These actions, the NAACP said, “threaten economic opportunities, workplace diversity, and community investments, directly impacting Black communities nationwide.”
Now, D.C. faith leaders and places of worship are taking notice and initiating their own efforts. At a community meeting of Black clergy on Thursday, March 13, a campaign was launched to boycott one of the busiest Target stores in the District, in Columbia Heights.
Retired pastor Rev. Graylan Hagler spoke at the meeting, explaining that the community is in a fight against “something like South African apartheid” and said MAGA forces want the U.S. to go back to a society dominated by white men, to a time before Reconstruction. Further, he said that the MAGA trajectory is a “revolution of sorts,” one aimed at moving the country backwards.
Rev. Patricia Fears, who hosted the gathering, stated that the campaign must be long-term and consistent if it’s to be effective. She said the Montgomery Bus Boycott took place over a period of several months to a year. The faith leaders decided to kick off the boycott campaign on Saturday, March 29, and to build a mass coalition of Black clergy, Black Greek organizations, civil rights organizations, and more.
This campaign will take shape like the fights in the 1980s for Affirmative Action programs, for Black Studies at universities in the ’70s, and like the boycotts that took place in the ’40s against businesses that did not hire Black workers.
Back then, in D.C. and elsewhere, the National Negro Congress led the organizing efforts against small stores and local restaurants that refused to hire Black workers with much success. “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” was one of the slogans of that period. Black activists around the country joined the cause, leading informational pickets in front of community businesses that refused to employ Black workers. This later became a major and effective tactic of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
The Black faith leaders expect to have a major economic impact on Target sales and hope to decrease the traffic of consumers into the Columbia Heights store. Consumers will be directed to shop at alternate businesses that support DEI programs or are Black- or people of color-owned.
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