For this Lent, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, didn’t urge the 10,000 members of his congregation to give up chocolate or coffee. Instead, he called for a 40-day “fast” from shopping at Target because of its decision to pull back on its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. Other influential African American congregations across the country followed suit, and now over 150,000 people have signed up to participate. They’ve joined activists who are boycotting a growing list of companies, including Walmart and Starbucks.
We usually think of churches as sources of spiritual guidance. That is true enough; I do need help trying to be a better father, husband and neighbor. I need to know how to love, forgive, overcome trauma and pursue God.
But that pursuit of God happens in the real world of economic exploitation where businesses crush unions, abandon commitments to invest in Black and brown communities and forsake diversity goals.
I didn’t need a pastor to tell me that businesses that made diversity commitments during the troubled summer of 2020 didn’t really care about my Black life, but churches must show what the Christian faith has to say about what’s going on the outside, in the world of flesh and blood. Actions like boycotts are a form of pastoral ministry for those who feel ignored or forgotten. They show that churches care about whole persons and the communities in which we live.
“It is one thing to make Target respect us,” the Rev. Charlie Dates, the pastor of Salem Baptist Church and Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, told me. “It is another thing altogether to respect ourselves.”
Part of self-respect is remembering one’s own agency. In that sense, it does not matter whether Target accedes to the demands to stay true to its D.E.I. commitments in the short term. It matters that we remember the power of collective action, the sense of self that arises when we act on principle.