‘Our dollars do count’: These shoppers are using an economic blackout against companies
WASHINGTON – Sheila Harrison stopped shopping at Target as soon as she learned the company rolled back some of its diversity initiatives. She was disappointed and annoyed.
Every year in February she looked forward to picking up a new shirt from the store’s Black History Month line. And on her typical twice-a-week visits to the store, she bought other items. Not anymore.
“As much as I love Target, I just couldn’t,’’ said Harrison, an environmental underwriter who lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “It just didn’t sit well with my spirit.’’
Harrison plans to continue to shop elsewhere and participate in other boycotts, including a national 24-hour economic blackout that starts Friday. She and many others are using their wallets to push back against companies they believe have reneged on pledges to support diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The campaigns range from today’s blackout calling for people not to spend money anywhere to a 40-day boycott of stores like Target and other protests. Some organizations have urged people to shop more at stores that continue supporting diversity programs, as well as small businesses.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The actions come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. Several companies have followed the administration’s lead.
Supporters of the boycotts hope they’ll signal to companies that retreating from diversity initiatives will cost them business.
“It definitely does send a political message to these companies that we’re watching them and that we’re not going to let them get away with abandoning our causes,’’ said Jason Williams, professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
During trips to Target, Harrison often bought products made by Black entrepreneurs, including cosmetics from The Lip Bar. Instead, she has turned to the company’s website and forked over extra for shipping.
“I just got to do what I got to do,’’ she said.
Harrison is taking a trip to Charlotte in the coming days, but she filled her gas tank early in the week so she doesn’t spend money on Friday. She also plans to join others next week and only shop for necessities for 40 days. If she buys anything, she said, it will be from a Black-owned business.
“I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” she said. “As African Americans we need to make these people realize that our dollars do count. They don’t respect us or our dollars.”
More:Consumers plan boycott of major retail companies on Feb. 28 for DEI rollbacks
There are several blackout efforts underway, including the 24-hour action organized by the People’s Union, a grassroots group, protesting against what it sees as corporate greed. Black faith leaders have called on congregations to join a 40-day boycott of Target starting Wednesday.
In separate campaigns, the National Action Network, a civil rights organization, plans to release a report in April on some companies that have retreated from diversity programs. The NAACP announced its Black Consumer Advisory, urging members to support Black-owned businesses and shop with companies that commit to DEI initiatives.
Still, there are many challenges to conducting a boycott, including people’s ability to find cheaper alternatives with the prominence of some major stores, said Williams. It’s also hard for people who have to drive to other places to shop.
“It has become hard for people to partake in a boycott even if they want to,’’ Williams said. “It’s not necessarily because people don’t want to support it.’’
In the past, shoppers could turn to more alternatives like Black-owned businesses along main streets. Many of those corridors no longer exist, he said.
For more than a week, Kim Andrews of Nashville got messages from family, friends and colleagues about different economic blackouts.
The first one was about faith leaders calling for the Target boycott. Then came another about the 24-hour blackout, along with other demonstrations. She plans to do them all. She said she wants to be part of the movement.
“It’s almost like voting,’’ said Andrews, a career strategist and leadership coach. “You want to make a difference. While one (person) not spending may not be a big deal, if everybody says, ‘Do not,’ then it makes a difference.”
Switching from Target was easy for her. She doesn’t shop there much, anyway. Instead, she went to another store with a pharmacy and noticed for the first time there were also Black hair care products on the shelves. She said she’ll remember that for next time.
“It might be time to go to maybe a local grocer or market, time to see what they actually offer and contribute to our local community like the mom-and-pop shops,’’ Andrews said.
Experts said successful boycotts in the past have relied on mass mobilization or buy-in from entire communities. They point to the successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which began in 1955.
Some organizers, including Black faith leaders and civil rights groups, hope to rally Black shoppers to participate now.
Still, analysts have previously told USA TODAY boycotts don’t always financially work, but they can be successful in shaming a company into reversing decisions. There needs to be clear asks outlined, they say. But consumers do like being able to take action against something they feel strongly about.
For example, every Wednesday since the beginning of the month, Susan Bradshaw had stopped shopping except at Black-owned businesses.
“I felt so good because I realized I’m saving money, I’m being proactive and I feel connected to my community,’’ said Bradshaw, a physician who lives in Los Angeles. “It’s a way to make change.”
More:America’s largest companies hired more Black executives. Then came the DEI backlash.
Groups opposing diversity, equity and inclusion have also launched protests and boycotts in recent years. They have criticized DEI programs, calling them part of the “woke’’ culture and have tried to pressure companies to follow Trump’s lead to end them.
Some anti-DEI boycotts have been effective, including one against Target, which scaled back its Pride merchandise and moved some displays from the entrances to the back of stores.
Target did not respond to a request for comment about the boycott, but the company has said it will continue to work with suppliers from all backgrounds. They also said the company will continue to offer Black-owned products.
Keith Byrd, pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., which is spearheading its own boycott, is urging his congregation to reduce spending for 40 days during Lent. Every Wednesday members should not spend money at all.
“We’re going to make it a part of our spiritual strengthening, but also impacting our community,’’ Byrd said. He explained that the church is drawing up a list of corporations for participants to avoid. He called diversity efforts “a fundamental democratic principle” for the country.
Walmart, which has several stores near the church, is a prime target, and shopping at Black-owned stores will be pushed as an alternative. The nation’s largest private employer announced last year it would make changes to its diversity efforts.
“We don’t do that enough anyway,’’ Byrd said. “But certainly we need to, particularly the Black church, help our people to understand the power not only of the vote, but the power of the dollar.”
Beyond the boycott, Byrd said he has made personal sacrifices by not shopping at businesses that have rolled back diversity initiatives.
Every day, he and his wife, Kimberly, used to order a decaf caramel macchiato with extra shots of vanilla from Starbucks. “I’m done with that for awhile,’’ he said.
And among his favorites is a Big Mac combo from McDonalds. “I could probably own stock in McDonalds,’’ he said. “I’m done with that.”
“Our goal is to show our economic power and muscle, period,” he said.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn and Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY
‘Got to do what I got to do’
‘You want to make a difference’
The power of the dollar
‘A spiritual act of resistance’: Black consumers are boycotting corporations retreating from DEI
Treece Jones used to shop at Target at least once every other week, spending between $75 and $200 on each trip.
Jones, a 32-year-old Black woman from Dallas, said she enjoyed browsing the store aisles for some of her favorite Black-owned brands including Pattern, Ezra Coffee and Design Essentials.
But when Target announced in January it was pulling back from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives — including a commitment to expanding Black employee representation by 20% — Jones said she felt betrayed.
“It was very easy for me to say, ‘Oh well, I can spend my Black dollars elsewhere,’” Jones told CNN.
She said she would no longer shop at Target. Instead, she plans to patronize locally owned retailers and buy directly from the Black-owned brands sold at Target.
Jones, a finance manager, joins a growing number of Black consumers collectively boycotting Target and other retailers that have reversed DEI programs in recent weeks amid backlash from President Donald Trump and his conservative allies.
Last month, Trump ordered all federal DEI workers to be placed on paid leave and signed an executive order targeting private companies with DEI programs.
RELATED ARTICLE
White House orders government DEI employees to be placed on leave
Trump has suggested DEI disregards merit in hiring practices, saying his administration is “elevating competence over everything else, instead of the DEI policies that were pursued by the Biden administration.”
Across the country, faith leaders and civil rights activists are calling for boycotts, urging Black consumers to redirect their spending to Black-owned businesses or stores and companies that remain committed to DEI.
The Rev. Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, is leading one such boycott. He is urging Black Americans to stop shopping at Target and to sell their stock in the retailer for Lent, a 40-day period of prayer and fasting that this year lasts from March 5 to April 17.
Bryant told CNN he hopes at least 100,000 people will register for the ”Target Fast,” described on its website as a “spiritual act of resistance.” Participants are encouraged to purchase products from Black-owned businesses during this time.
He said the Minneapolis-based retailer has shown an “absence of conscience” by making pledges to the Black community after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and then reversing them nearly five years later.
“It is a slap in the face to that local community and to the family,” Bryant said.
Bryant said he is demanding that Target restore its commitment to DEI, including honoring the company’s $2 billion pledge to the Black business community.
A spokesperson for Target declined to comment on the boycott but shared a document outlining the retailer’s “Belonging at the Bullseye” strategy.
The strategy emphasizes a commitment to “recruit and retain team members who represent the communities we serve” and offer an “assortment of products and services that help all guests feel seen and celebrated.”
Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney, said local activists are calling for Black consumers nationwide to boycott Target indefinitely, or until the retail chain reinstates its DEI investments.
Armstrong said many Black Americans viewed Target as an ally when it began partnering with popular Black businesses and promised more investment in the community. She added that the Minneapolis community, in particular, felt reassured by Target’s messaging following the uprisings across the city after Floyd’s death.
Now, she said, Black consumers feel as though Target has deceived them.
“There is a lot of frustration and disappointment with Target’s decision to cower to the Trump administration, especially after building a lot of their business model around diversity,” Armstrong said, noting Target was praised for featuring Black-owned brands each year for Black History Month. “It was shocking to see Target fall into their trap and abandon their core customer base.”
Faith leaders gathered in Washington, DC, on Presidents’ Day to call for mass boycotts.
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, a leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, urged the Black faith community to unite in opposing corporations that retreat from their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“We’ve got to tell corporate America that there’s a consequence for turning your back on diversity,” he said. “My brother, my sister, if our diversity is not good, our money isn’t good. So, let us send a message that if corporate America can’t stand with us, we’re not going to stand with corporate America.”
RELATED ARTICLE
The legal war on DEI begins: Missouri sues Starbucks over its diversity programs
Plans for a boycott scheduled for Friday, known as the “Economic Blackout,” have been widely shared on social media. This boycott urges consumers to avoid patronizing major stores and restaurants, instead spending money at local businesses.
The “Economic Blackout” is a reaction to the rollback of DEI programs and corporate price gouging, said John Schwarz, founder of the grassroots group The People’s Union USA.
“They are sitting in board rooms making decisions to benefit themselves,” Schwarz told CNN. “They need to understand that we are the economy.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) announced on January 22 it would identify two companies to boycott within 90 days for reversing their DEI pledges.
In contrast, Sharpton has also led what his organization calls “buy-cotts” at stores like Costco, which continues to support its DEI programs. NAN defines “buy-cotts” as intentionally patronizing a company because you support its policies.
NAN shared footage on Instagram of hundreds of its members walking together through Costco stores in Harlem, New York, and Union, New Jersey, to shop.
“Donald Trump can cut federal DEI programs to the bone, he can claw back federal money to expand diversity, but he cannot tell us what grocery store we shop at,” Sharpton said in a statement. “Companies that think they can renege on their promises to do better, bring in new voices, or abandon us will see the impact of Black buying power.”
While civil rights activists maintain that the boycotts will impact Target’s earnings, some economists express skepticism.
Vicki Bogan, a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, said Black Americans make up roughly 8.9% of consumer spending at Target.
The retail giant’s annual revenue for the fiscal year ending in February 2024 was more than $107 billion, according to a company news release.
Bogan said she believes Target, along with most other major retailers, would likely be able to withstand a boycott from Black consumers.
“The real power that people have found in boycotts is it raises awareness around particular issues,” Bogan said. “Raising that awareness could create negative reputational effects that can be costly in the long run.”
RELATED ARTICLE
Target is getting hit from all sides on DEI
Adam Swart, founder and CEO of Crowds on Demand, said to make a significant impact, consumers would need to commit to boycotting Target beyond the 40-day Lenten season.
The boycott would also need support from beyond the Black community to be effective, Swart added.
Target “needs to see that this is going to be a permanent stain in their bottom line and they are going to permanently lose consumers concerned about these DEI programs,” Swart said. “And in an ideal world, it wouldn’t just be the Black community, it would be the broader community that is also concerned about those programs.”
Armstrong, the civil rights lawyer, said she believes Target will certainly feel the impact of losing Black consumers.
“To pretend that our dollars don’t matter I think is part of the problem,” she said. “We have huge buying power.”
Bogan said she worries the boycott may be difficult to sustain for many Black consumers, particularly those in “financially fragile” households, who might find local businesses and Black-owned merchants less affordable and accessible.
Many families are already seeking to save money due to inflation and job losses across both the public and private sectors, she said, and shopping at value retailers like Target and Walmart is often their best option.
“People that have lost their jobs, people who don’t have the wherewithal to weather economic downturns, they are not going to have the luxury of making more financial sacrifices for a cause,” she said. “Some people can, and some people don’t have that option.”
KJ Kearney, a community organizer from North Charleston, South Carolina, agreed it is hard to boycott value retailers.
“I’m in these Black communities, these poor black communities …” Kearney said. “And I’m telling you these people, their best option is Walmart or the Dollar Tree. You cannot hate these corporations more than you love your own people.”
Still, Bryant said that during the Lenten season, “the sacrifice is an inconvenience.”
Boycotts have historically been a strategy for political and social resistance in America.
Some of the most successful boycotts took place during the civil rights era, as activists sought to advance equality for Black Americans.
One of the most historic boycotts was led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, when Black people stopped riding the buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest racial segregation.
It followed Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a White man on a Montgomery bus. The city’s bus company suffered financially, losing 30,000 to 40,000 bus fares each day, according to the National Park Service.
The boycott led to the US Supreme Court ruling in 1956 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
The Montgomery bus boycott was a “template for how to challenge racial segregation in the United States: nonviolent resistance; church-based; mass mobilization; litigation and negotiation and lobbying,” said Howard Robinson, associate library director for Archives and Cultural Heritage Services at Alabama State University.
But boycotts have also been used by conservatives to challenge brands promoting equality.
In 2023, conservatives called for a boycott of Bud Light after it collaborated with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, resulting in a 28% sales drop in the first three months, according to the Harvard Business Review.
“In the aftermath of the Bud Light controversy, many consumer brand marketing departments have become acutely aware of the potential pitfalls of taking stances on controversial social issues and have become fearful of experiencing a similar backlash and the accompanying financial and reputational costs,” according to the Harvard Business Review.
Bryant stated that his 40-day Target boycott was largely inspired by King’s work in Montgomery during the 1950s.
“I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just putting rims on it,” Bryant said. “What it is that we are doing is we are taking a page out of history of how it is that you effectively voice your objection to oppression.”
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Taking a stand against corporate America
The power of Black buyers
The challenges of a boycott
A page out of history
Up next
Most read
MORE FROM CNN
NEWS & BUZZ
Some giant retailers that rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies are now feeling some pushback from their own customers and investors.
Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) were among the many companies that announced recent about-faces on diversity, a list that also includes Google (GOOG), Meta (META), McDonald’s (MCD), Amazon (AMZN), and Tractor Supply (TSCO).
Now all seven of those companies appear on a list of DEI rollbacks maintained by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as part of a “Black Consumer Advisory” initiative launched earlier this month designed to encourage support for businesses that expand their commitments to diversity.
“If corporations want our dollars, they better be ready to do the right thing,” NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement announcing the project.
Target is also mentioned as a specific focal point of another advocacy group, Black Wall Street Ticker, that has called for a “corporate fast” from spending any money at the Minneapolis retailing giant roughly coordinating with the 40 days of Lent starting March 5 through April 17.
“To see companies we’ve supported heavily — like McDonald’s, Ford Motors, Amazon, Meta, and Walmart— betray our long-standing relationship is beyond disheartening,” the group says on its site, but “the greatest insult comes from Target.”
Walmart has faced some repudiation, too, from some of its own investors. More than 30 shareholders representing $266 billion in assets sent a message last month to CEO Doug McMillon that called the retailer’s recent DEI policy changes “very disheartening.”
“As Walmart shareholders, we are also concerned to see our company give into bullying and pressure from anti-DEI groups,” the group said in its letter.
The pushback illustrates the difficult spot many companies are in as they try to navigate new legal threats surrounding DEI from the courts, conservative activists, and a Trump administration that is encouraging DEI revisions across corporate America.
Retailers are particularly challenged because so many Americans rely on their products or visit their stores — and they often find themselves in the political spotlight for a multitude of reasons.
For example, today there is a separate call circulating online for Americans to spend nothing at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and major food chains like McDonald’s on Friday, Feb. 28.
John Schwarz, a New York City resident and founder of the grassroots organization The People’s Union, first called for this “economic blackout” in an Instagram video that gained more than 8 million views.
Sign in to access your portfolio
