The consumer boycott against Target will continue, according to Rev. Jamal Bryant.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Target’s retraction of its three-year diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments — which included ending a program designed to highlight Black and minority-owned businesses — impacted the company. Shareholders filed a lawsuit and Rev. Bryant led a 40-day consumer boycott, garnering over 200,000 sign-ups. The major retailer subsequently experienced a decline in its stock for at least eight consecutive weeks.
“When we started this Target fast, … a Fortune 500 company was trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $138 a share. Because of how it is, that stridently you have put your hand to the plow, their stock started at $138 a share. As of Friday, it is down to $94 a share,” Bryant said Sunday, April 20, at his church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, GA, reports The Christian Post.
Furthermore, Target’s foot traffic decreased year over year in February 2025 by 9% and 6.5% in March 2025, according to Supermarket News. In comparison, Costco, which upheld its DEI commitments saw an uptick in its foot traffic for several weeks.
“Foot traffic at Target has gone down by 7.9 percent. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you will share with me in your enthusiasm for people who thought it was ineffective and there would be no results, is that because of your fast Target has lost $12 billion. Come on, y’all ought to be shouting,” Bryant said, per The Christian Post.
He added, “They tried to put out a statement that their loss is because of the economy, because of tariffs with China, but the reality is that while they were losing, Costco was gaining.”
Rev. Al Sharpton held a meeting with Target CEO Brian Cornell on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York, NY, concerning the retailer’s decision on removing DEI. Sharpton says the meeting was “very constructive and candid” and intended on meeting with Rev. Bryant on where they “will go from there,” notes The Guardian.
Bryant appears to be underwhelmed by the outcome of the meeting, according to The Christian Post. He stated that Target only fulfilled one of the four demands the Target Fast campaign had set out, which was to complete its $2 billion commitment to Black businesses “through products, services, and black media buys.” The other requests were for the retailer to commit “250 million amongst any of our 23 Black banks”; restore “the franchise commitment to DEI”; and “pipeline community centers at 10 HBCU to teach retail business at every level.”
“If in all of these years we have been loyal customers and clients and then in the moment of ‘dis-ease’ you turn your back. And so, I had to share with Target that we gave you 40 days to answer four, not one. And they only came back with one. So I told them what I’m getting ready to tell you. We ain’t going back in there. And so, the fast shifts to a full out boycott,” he asserted.
Bryant will be hosting a town hall meeting at his church on Tuesday, April 22, and he encourages Cornell to attend.
“I sent last night an invitation to the president and CEO of Target as well as the chairman of the board to come to New Birth on this coming Tuesday to speak to the people directly, not in a private closed meeting, but in an open venue to talk about where Target’s commitment is and where it is that we are going,” he said.
“I don’t know whether it is that the president is coming or the chair of the board is coming or anybody for that matter from Target is coming. But I need you to be here so that we plan and chart out what is our future going forward.”
