If Target thought that ending their DEI efforts was going to be good for business in the age of Donald Trump’s second presidency, then they have failed to read the room.
BOSSIP has been reporting on the company’s sales loss following a call from Pastor Jamal Bryant to boycott the big box store for bending the knee to Trump’s anti-Black agenda. According to CNBC, Target has cut their entire 2025 sales projections after they missed their first quarter earnings by a jarring 3% year-over-year. To make matters worse, Target’s shares have dipped 37% since this time in 2024, a metric that is likely driving investors to day drink.
Let CEO Brian Cornell tell it, there are numerous factors that account for these losses and one of which is the backlash the company has received for their MAGA obsequiousness.
Cornell told reporters that Target fell short of where it hoped to be in the fiscal first quarter because of “ongoing pressure in our discretionary business, plus five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, tariff uncertainty and the reaction to the updates we shared on belonging in January.”
You’ll notice that Cornell intentionally avoided calling the backlash “backlash”, but instead opted for the more cowardly “updates we shared on belonging in January”. Why so coy, Brian? Why not just call a thing a thing? You made the decision, stand on it.
According to Fox5News, Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is planning to re-galvanize the “fast” against Target on the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. Bryant announced that Target did capitulate to one of his demands, the fulfillment of a $2 billion pledge to support Black business, however, the company has not agreed to reinstate its DEI initiative.
“Corporations will see they can’t take Black dollars for granted and that we’re in here for the long haul,” he said.
Bryant says that he will stand alongside his congregation to hold a protest outside of the Target story in Conyers, Georgia on May 25. If you live in the Atlanta area, we encourage you to go to the protest and make your displeasure heard.
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