*Following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Target, which is headquartered in Minneapolis where he died, pledged to the Black community to boost efforts in inclusion. But the retailer hasn’t lived up to its promises, at least in the eyes of the Black community.
For this reason, leaders in the Black faith community are mobilizing their followers to (continue to) boycott Target. They have also announced a series of peaceful protests outside Target stores tomorrow, May 25, which is the fifth anniversary of the murder of Floyd.
One of the planners, Pastor Jamal-Harrison Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, said his church will protest outside a Target in Conyers, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.
During a church service on May 18, he added that 67 churches across the country will hold additional protests as part of a strategy to continue pressuring Target to fulfill its DEI pledge. The protest also includes other demands. It was initially called the “Target Fast” but is now christened the “Target Boycott.”
“They made this pledge not under political duress, not in response to protest, but we thought out of conscience and clean hands,” Bryant said.
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So far, two boycotts started by leaders in the Black community have specifically targeted Target over its failure to honor DEI promises. The first one began on February 1 to coincide with Black History Month, while the other started on March 5 to coincide with Lent. The first boycott was launched by Minnesota activists, including Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and founder of the Racial Justice Network.
The second one, dubbed “Target Fast,” was started by Bryant and was designed to run for 40 days. Target didn’t respond positively, resulting in a redoubling of the protests, which were now renamed “The Target Boycott.”
The four demands of Bryant’s group include:
- Honoring the $2 billion pledge to the Black business community, which entailed purchasing Black-owned products, services and investing in Black media.
- Depositing $250 million across 23 Black-owned banks to strengthen Black financial institutions.
- Establishing community retail centers at 10 historically Black colleges and universities to educate and empower future Black entrepreneurs.
- Restoring and recommitting to DEI at every level of the company.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Rallying for Equality: Target Faces Pressure to Reinstate DEI Programs as Activists Mobilize – Petition Surges Past 127,500 Signatures
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