As Target Boycott Continues, Local Black Businesses Reap the Benefits

What began in Atlanta as a 40-day “Target fast” in March has evolved into a full-blown economic movement aimed at making corporate America pay for broken promises — and uplifting Black-owned businesses in the process.

“It is time for us to stand 10 toes down about something,” said Pamela Booker, a 46-year-old Stone Mountain resident, business consultant, and creator of the hair care brand Koils By Nature. “This is the perfect catalyst.”

The Target boycott began last month in response to the retailer’s rollback of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in January, less than a week after Trump began a push to end public and private sector DEI programs.

Target boycott leader Jamal Bryant raised the stakes during a community town hall meeting inside Salem Bible Church in Lithonia on Tuesday night, reiterating plans to continue the economic protest indefinitely while also launching initiatives intended to support Black entrepreneurs.

His 12-city “State of the People Power Tour” begins in Atlanta on Saturday, with a “Day of Service” farming event at 8 a.m. followed at 11 a.m. by a series of workshops covering land ownership, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.

Bryant also announced that the Bullseye Black Market showcase of Black-owned businesses that began last weekend at locations in five cities, including New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, will expand to 20 cities on Juneteenth.

McDonough resident Monica Whyte was one of many patrons at the Bullseye Black Market on Sunday. The 44-year-old small-business owner, who said she was a frequent Target shopper before the boycott, hasn’t bought anything at the retailer since November.

She said the anti-DEI actions of President Donald Trump’s administration — and the way corporations like Target have aligned with them — have motivated her to spend more money with Black-owned businesses.

“A lot of us in my era, we’ve never seen things like this or had to experience it, so it’s all new for us,” Whyte told Capital B Atlanta. “So jumping in and being a part [of the Target boycott], I think it’s a great thing for us to go through.”

The economic ripple effect of consumers like Whyte changing their shopping habits to take a stand is already being felt by local Black entrepreneurs. Capital B Atlanta spotted Abdur-Rahim Shaheed, the 75-year-old creator of the True Laundry detergent and fabric softener brand, counting a thick wad of cash Sunday afternoon after participating in New Birth’s three-day Black business showcase.

“We sold out and had to bring back [more] products today,” Shaheed said. “That is excellent.”

“We have to hit them in their pockets”

Up until recently, Target was an outspoken supporter of DEI programs following the 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, where the bull’s-eye brand is headquartered. But the company announced an end to its three-year DEI goals on Jan. 24, days after Trump began his second presidential term.

On Sunday, Bryant told Capital B Atlanta that when he and the Rev. Al Sharpton met with Target executives for about two hours in New York last week, the business leaders agreed to fulfill just one of the boycott organizers’ four demands.

Bryant said the Target executives agreed to honor their commitment to spending $2 billion in the Black business community in 2025, but they declined to completely restore their DEI programs, deposit $250 million in Black-owned banks, and establish pipeline programs at 10 HBCUs to “teach retail business at every level.”

Speaking to the crowd in Lithonia on Tuesday, Bryant rejected the compromise outright.

“You don’t get to walk away from your public commitments to Black people and think there will not be consequences and repercussions,” Bryant told the reverent crowd on Tuesday. “They are doing it because they believe they can get away with it.”

Target hasn’t responded to Capital B Atlanta’s repeated requests for comment. Bryant said he invited CEO Brian Cornell to the town hall, but he declined to show up.

Some people have compared the Target boycott to the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. The former has given Black folks troubled by Trump’s policies — from federal employee layoffs and DEI bans to price-hiking tariffs — a way to channel their anger and economic suffering into action.

“I think history will record that this is larger than that,” Bryant told Capital B Atlanta on Sunday. “The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one city. This is an entire nation.”

Bryant estimates that 150,000 people across America have boycotted Target. Macrotrends data shows Target’s stock price has slid from $116.56 on March 5, when the boycott began, to a four-year low of about $95 — a drop likely made steeper by Trump’s recent tariffs on imports, which have contributed to widespread market volatility.

Booker, of Koils By Nature, said Black-owned brands that sell products at Target may be impacted by the boycott, but to her, it’s more important to send an economic message to the retailer and its peers.

“We have to hit them in their pockets,” she said in reference to Target. “Marching doesn’t do it. Protesting doesn’t do it. When we hit them in their pockets and they’re losing $12 million a day, they’re going to have to answer up to something.”

Dava Diallo, an Atlanta-based children’s book author and founder of Orisa Hoodoo Publishing who participated in last weekend’s marketplace at New Birth, said her Target disavowal is permanent.

“Going forward, I will not be shopping at Target,” Diallo told Capital B Atlanta on Sunday. “I don’t plan on ever going back, to be honest.”

The post As Target Boycott Continues, Local Black Businesses Reap the Benefits appeared first on Capital B News – Atlanta.

This post was originally published on this site