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‘People will fight back’: Advocates react to Trump’s ‘war on DEI’
Advocates of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, are criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for shutting down government diversity programs by executive order.
- A new 40-day boycott against Target started on Wednesday in retaliation against the company rolling back on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
- The boycott was organized by Atlanta Pastor Jamal Bryant, telling the public to halt their spending on this “40-day fast” that coincides with Lent.
Protests against major consumer corporations continue to ramp up as a new 40-day boycott against Target started on Wednesday in retaliation against the company rolling back on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The boycott was organized by Atlanta Pastor Jamal Bryant, telling the public to halt their spending on this “40-day fast” that coincides with Lent.
“In recent days, we have witnessed a disturbing retreat from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives by major corporations − companies that once pledged to stand for justice but have since chosen the path of compromise,” reads the website Targetfast.
The protest is also organized along with U.S. Black Chambers, who advocate for black-owned businesses, and the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
Those who are organizing the boycott said they are insulted by the store ending its DEI program, where the company is no longer prioritizing the hiring of people from underrepresented communities.
“The greatest insult comes from Target, which pledged to spend over $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, only to find out that Target stopped the program at the start of the year. Black people spend over $12 million a day at Target,” said the website promoting the boycott.
Target is not the only company slashing their DEI programs. Companies such as Google, Meta, Ford and more scaling back on DEI after President Donald Trump cut federal DEI programs within his first days in office.
The organizations list the demands on their website:
- Honor the $2 billion pledge to the black business community through products, services, and black media buys
- Deposit $250 million amongst any of our 23 black banks
- Completely restoring the franchise commitment to DEI
- Pipeline community centers at 10 HBCU to teach retail business at every level
Other prominent activist organization like the NAACP tell consumers to instead shop at black-owned businesses to prioritize people over profit.
The Targetfast website said they will review the data after the 40-day boycott, and may proceed to a “Phase 2” of protests. The group hopes Target meets their demands by the company’s June 12 shareholders meeting.
Did the last DEI protest work?
The Target boycott follows a 24-hour economic blackout that was organized to protest many corporations such as Walmart and Target over stopped DEI initiative programs.
While the first quarter sales reports are not out for Target yet, Forbes found that the store’s web traffic was down on the day of the economic blackout, compared to previous weeks.
USA Today using research from Placer.ai, a firm that makes estimations for in-store visits to locations across the country by using a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning, reported foot traffic at Target, Walmart, Best Buy, McDonalds and Starbucks decreased in Febraury from January’s numbers.
Costco, which stood by its DEI initiatives, experienced an increase of 22% web traffic since the start of the month, according to Forbes.
