Target announced last Friday that it would join competitor Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back their DEI initiatives, which have come under attack from conservatives and the new White House of President Donald Trump. Nekima Levy Armstrong, a veteran civil rights lawyer in Minneapolis and founder of the Racial Justice Network, joined other local activists and their supporters at a news conference to urge people to begin the boycott on Saturday, the first day of Black History Month.
Many of the participants were regular Target shoppers until now, she said. Well, we are here today saying we will not bow down. We will not step back, and we will not turn around. The organizers of the boycott include local Black Lives Matter groups.
During the boycott announcement, some speakers cut up their distinctive red Target charge cards, while others called on DEI supporters to shop at Costco, which reaffirmed its commitment to DEI last week.
Levy Armstrong said Target has not reached out to her or other local Black leaders. She said they expected more from Target, and now feel like everything it had done in support of people of color was just window dressing. The starting point for any conversation, she said, would be for the company reverse its decision immediately.
But that does not mean that those other businesses should not also be held accountable. All of those businesses should be held accountable, and they should not have access to our dollars. Levy Armstrong and Hussein said they plan to partner with other national organizations to get the word out about the boycott and to take other steps they were not yet ready to share publicly. The Minneapolis organizers said Black consumers and their white allies can continue to support those companies while cutting Target out.
