XPost: alt.politics.homosexuality, alt.business, sac.politics
XPost: alt.society.liberalism
So what? Blacks and queers don't shop at Target, they shoplift and sell
it on Amazon. Target should see an increase in their bottom line.
Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott starting Wednesday over the company�s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
�We�re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their
back on our community,� Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area
megachurch pastor who started the boycott, said in an interview with CNN.
The boycott, which begins during the start of Lent, comes more than a
month after Target made changes to its DEI programs and at a difficult
period for the company as it faces an onslaught of tariffs in the middle
of a challenging economy.
On January 24, days into Donald Trump�s presidency, Target announced it
was eliminating hiring goals for minority employees, ending an executive committee focused on racial justice and making other changes to its
diversity initiatives. Target said it had a new strategy called �Belonging
at the Bullseye,� which it first introduced last year, and the company
remained committed to �creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests
and communities.� Target also stressed the need for �staying in step with
the evolving external landscape.�
Target is one of dozens of Fortune 500 companies that have backtracked on
DEI in response to conservative court decisions, pressure from activists
and right-wing legal groups, and, more recently, the Trump
administration�s threats to investigate what it characterizes as �illegal
DEI,� including potential criminal cases against companies. Companies are caught between pursuing efforts to increase diversity and avoiding a conservative legal crackdown.
But no company has faced as fierce a blowback from DEI supporters as
Target. Customers online have protested the decision and Anne and Lucy
Dayton, the daughters of one of Target�s co-founders, called the company�s actions �a betrayal.�
Target is under more pressure than companies like Walmart, John Deere or Tractor Supply, because Target went further in its DEI efforts, and it has
a more progressive base of customers than those competitors.
Target was a leading advocate for DEI programs in the business world in
the years after George Floyd was murdered by police in the company�s home
city of Minneapolis in 2020. Target also spent years building a public reputation as a progressive employer on LGBTQ issues.
�Black people spend upwards of $12 million dollars a day, and so we would expect some loyalty, some decency and some camaraderie,� Bryant said.
Melissa Butler, the CEO of the Lip Bar, one of the largest Black-owned
makeup companies carried in Target, said on TikTok that she was
disappointed about Target�s DEI pullback. But she worries that the boycott could hurt Black-owned businesses.
�We don�t want these minority businesses to suffer or to be impacted negatively,� she said.
Target declined to comment to CNN about the boycott. A spokesperson for
Target said the company is still committed to inclusivity and offers a
wide range of products and services, including items that are owned by
Black and minority vendors.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/business/target-boycott-jamal-
bryant/index.html
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