It appears that the fine folks at Target are finally willing to admit they are feeling the burn of the massive fallout from their decision to roll back the retail company’s DEI initiatives, including a three-year program that focused on building Black careers. According to CNBC, Target’s CEO Brian Cornell has reached out to Rev. Al Sharpton — who, along with other civil rights activists and groups, has taken part in an organized effort to send the message to businesses that if they bow down to the MAGA world’s racist effort to de-DEI America, they can expect boycotts, Black dollar divestment, and “buy-ins” for their competitors who have refused to end their diversity, equity and inclusion inititatives — and now the two are set to meet and discuss, oh I don’t know, how Target has long-reached the “find out” stage of its “f**k around” activites.
From CNBC:
The meeting, which Target asked for, comes after some civil rights groups urged consumers not to shop at Target in response to the retailer’s decision to cut back on DEI. While Sharpton has not yet called for a boycott of Target, he has supported efforts from others to stop shopping at the retailer’s stores.
“You can’t have an election come and all of a sudden, change your old positions,” said Sharpton. “If an election determines your commitment to fairness then fine, you have a right to withdraw from us, but then we have a right to withdraw from you.”
The civil rights leader said he would consider calling for a Target boycott if the company doesn’t confirm its commitment to the Black community and pledge to work with and invest in Black-owned businesses.
“I said, ‘If [Cornell] wants to have a candid meeting, we’ll meet,’” Sharpton said of the phone call Target made to his office. “I want to first hear what he has to say.”
Actually, in January, Sharpton spearheaded a campaign he called a “buy-cott,” in which he led a group of about 100 people, including fellow Black civil rights activists, to spend their money at Costco in East Harlem, New York, because the company had publicly refused to cave to President Donald Trump’s pressure to go anti-DEI. That demonstration wasn’t necessarily billed as a Target boycott, but a major theme of the day was the message that Black people would be “keeping our dollars away from those who don’t take our concerns seriously.” And since the took place shortly after Target became the first company to make headlines for publicly announcing its DEI rollback, it’s arguably fair to call the “buy-in” a boycott by another name.
In late March, we reported that due to the efforts of Black activist groups and clergy members like Atlanta-based pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant, boycotts against Target had steadily increased while the retail giant’s stock value and revenue had continued to plummet. Then, earlier this month, we reported that foot traffic in Target stores had fallen eight weeks in a row.
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