Target Chose White Supremacy Over Customer Loyalty

US-IMMIGRATION-ICE-SHOOTING — Source: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Getty

If Target thought its problems and the 13-month boycott were over, it was sadly mistaken. Sorry to that man, Target CEO Michael Fiddelke and his shareholders, but y’all ain’t out of the woods yet.

As I wrote last summer, economic boycotts have a long history of bringing power to account. Raising our voices and withholding our resources have broken economic systems and shifted policies in this country at multiple points.

But yesterday’s news of the boycott’s alleged end caused a lot of confusion.

The Target Fast, launched by Pastor Jamal Bryant, has ended. While that effort was folded into the national boycott, the fast was a faith-based initiative centered on Lent, which is why it was 40 days.

The difference between the fast ending and the boycott continuing is that the boycott continues to matter when outlets and Target’s leadership give the impression that everything is fine, even though they have changed nothing. Newsflash, we’ve been just fine without you.

Both former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner and activist Tamika Mallory, who worked with Bryant, have said that for them, the boycott is not over until Target issues a formal apology to the Black community.

Activists on the ground in Minnesota, where Target is headquartered, have also stated they will continue to boycott Target, including Attorney Nikema Levy Armstrong, CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussien, and Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty.

And I can always order my cool swag or cute Black girl magic stationery directly from the creators.

In an open letter to Fiddelke, Minneapolis leaders made it clear that people would not let up on Target’s neck.

“Across the country, consumers, organizers, and community leaders remain committed to holding corporations accountable when their public commitments to equity are abandoned,” read the letter. “If Target continues to ignore the concerns raised by this boycott and refuses to engage directly with the leaders who initiated it, the movement will only grow stronger and more organized in the months ahead.”

Target leadership has only itself to blame for the consumer boycott

Days after the new regime took over, Target disappointed many of its most loyal customers in its rush to be among the first to pledge fealty to white supremacy. The retail giant gaslit America by claiming that data and other insights drove its decision to end its DEI policies.

They probably used the same whack Chat GPT prompts as DOGE agents responsible for the devastating purge of everything not primarily focused on white men at the federal level.

Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, in an internal memo, all but admitted that the move was intended to appease the Trump administration. The company claimed it was “staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future.”

Target, you could’ve just sat in the corner, chewed your food, and reaped the benefits of decades of customer loyalty and support for diverse creators. But no, you just had to be seen.

Y’all was too busy worrying about the Nazis not sneaking in your store anymore for pride gear, or gender affirming skin care. Target was not ready for the multi-billion-dollar FAFO lesson it received in 2025.

During the Wednesday Minneapolis press conference, Hussein reminded people that Target has caused more harm than broken promises. He explained how Target supported ICE during “one of the worst attacks” on communities across the Twin Cities.

“It allowed ICE not only to roam in their parking lots, but it also allowed for its employees to be taken out of the front doors of Target Corporation and Target Company,” Hussein said. “Target became the center in the fight against the fight for corporations to respect the Fourth Amendment and to protect their employees and their customers. And Target chose to stand with Bovino.”

Footage in January showed Target standing by and doing nothing, like a Charlottesville tiki torch stooge, when a young employee was snatched up and violated by ICE thugs in January.

No amount of goodwill PR tour can undo the image of Bovino and his storm troopers marching through a Target at the height of the Twin Cities occupation. I’m not supporting a company that struggles to stand firm on basic things like not murdering people and keeping their employees and community safe.

Sure, there are individual organizations and communities that have benefited from Target’s “goodwill.” But letting shoppers award points in a retail Hunger Games to local groups doesn’t erase the many ways corporate “partners” fail the communities that sustain them.

The communities that make them. The communities that serve them with their time and talent.

And honestly, Target’s new CEO’s dismissal of the boycott’s impact could lead to an even bigger drop in sales. So it’s gonna take a lot more than a makeover and vibes to turn around Target’s multi-billion-dollar dance with the devil.

Economic boycotts require organized communities and sustained sacrifice

Target continues to draw more anger and catches more strays than union busters Starbucks and Amazon. The once-favorite retailer of many, including yours truly, has become a poster child for the modern era of economic boycotts.

Corporate accountability amid resurging white supremacist domination requires an understanding of ecosystems and how these companies move and operate. It’s industry-wide collusion to suppress our communities.

It’s wage theft, the spying and selling of our information, data centers messing with our water and energy, and locking up the lotion while they lie about alleged organized retail theft. These people flipping through earnings reports in their board meetings think they can ride us out.

And the sooner we all accept that capitalist greed and exploitation are the root of so much of the evils we experience, the better off we will be.

Many of us are quick to quote Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without demand.” But few truly grapple with the moral clarity, physical clarity, and outrage Douglass wove throughout his remarks, delivered eight years before emancipation.

It’s the same clarity and determination on display in Du Bois’s discussion of enslaved Black people’s resistance, as the first and longest-sustained general strike. Boycotts and economic accountability tools are necessary to break down systems that oppress us and profit at our expense.

Appealing to the moral clarity and goodwill of people, getting rich while people are maimed, murdered, and missing will get us nowhere. But hitting them pockets speaks volumes.

Target decided it was worth throwing away decades of loyal consumers. I don’t go where I’m not wanted or respected.

Wednesday’s confusion in many ways serves as a point of clarification. It is a moment of deep discernment about how we show up and what we are willing to lose as we fight to dismantle these oppressive systems.

Boycotting is more than just following a list in a viral post and virtue-signaling about which trash corporation you do or don’t support. To boycott or not boycott is up to each individual and their households.

Instead of posting about the boycott wars or who did what wrong, consider sharing information and resources to help people find alternatives. Mutual aid, combined with some political education, can go a long way toward our generational struggle for justice.

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Target Chose White Supremacy Over Customer Loyalty was originally published on newsone.com