Megachurch Pastor Jamal Bryant, who once rejected efforts to end a national boycott of retail giant Target over the company’s decision to roll back its DEI initiatives last year, has announced that the boycott is over.
Nekima Levy-Armstrong, an award-winning attorney and civil rights activist, who leads the Racial Justice Network, which launched the first national boycott of Target on Feb. 1, 2025, over the issue, insists, however, that the boycott is still on.
“From the beginning, we said that the Target boycott would be indefinite unless and until Target took the steps to address the fact that they rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to capitulate to the Trump administration,” Levy-Armstrong said at an emergency press conference on Wednesday. “The Target boycott continues.”
Bryant, who leads the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, launched his 40-day fast from Target after Levy-Armstrong announced her group’s boycott and became one of the most visible advocates of the national Target boycott movement.
His specific campaign demanded that Target honor a $2 billion pledge to the black business community “through products, services, and black media buys.” It also called on the company to deposit “250 million amongst any of our 23 black banks;” restore “the franchise commitment to DEI;” and “pipeline community centers at 10 HBCUs to teach retail business at every level.”
Last April, Bryant rejected an offer from Target to end the boycott if the company fulfilled its pledge to invest $2 billion into black-owned businesses by July 31, 2025.
On Wednesday, nearly 400 days since he started his fast from Target, the Georgia pastor, who called the company’s DEI rollback a “spit in the face of black people,” announced he had reached a compromise that did not include a reinstatement of the company’s DEI policy.
“We have not been able to get all that we have desired, but I am grateful for the strides that we have made for the Target fast that really reflects the faith-based component of this. We are claiming victory, and I believe that our generation needs to see victory,” Bryant said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, where he was joined by Nina Turner, former Ohio State senator, who founded the capacity-building organization, We Are Somebody, and social justice activist Tamika Mallory.
Bryant said he confirmed with Target that the company didn’t complete its pledge to invest $2 billion into black-owned businesses last July, but was 97% complete. He said the company promised to complete it by Easter, along with an additional $100 million in grants and scholarships to black-led community organizations.
Bryant also stated during the press conference that Target committed to supporting HBCUs and noted that the company recently saved Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design, an HBCU in Detroit, Michigan, from closure.
“I want to give high commendation because Target has given $10 million to the Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design in Detroit,” Bryant said.
“I was unaware until our meeting with Target of the only HBCU design school, which is Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design in Detroit, that was on the brink of closure until Target came and walked alongside them and gave them a gift of $10 million. I am grateful that the school is open,” the megachurch pastor said. “I have talked to students as well as staff that is there, and they are grateful for that robust contribution.”
Bryant also said that Target donated upwards of $18 million to the United Negro College Fund.
Both Levy-Armstrong and Bryant, along with other black activists, agree that Target’s DEI rollback felt like a deep betrayal because the company was considered a highly favored, “go-to” retailer for black Americans due to its curation of black-owned brands and strong commitment to DEI.
“The question that has been asked of us over the last year, of 35 Fortune 500 companies that have walked away from DEI, why did we pick Target first? And the answer to that resoundingly is Target is the only one we invited to the cookout,” Bryant said.
“They were the only ones we felt were kissing cousins. They are the only Fortune 500 company that got a hood nickname. We called them Tarjay because we had let them into the house, and so it was not just an abandonment of DEI, but we felt as if it was a betrayal.”
Target did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post about the situation on Thursday, but in a statement to USA Today, a spokesperson said they are “more committed than ever to creating growth and opportunity for all.”
“We’re pleased to be moving forward, and we will continue showing up as trusted neighbors while delivering results for our team members, guests and the more than 2,000 communities in which we serve,” the company said. “Because when those communities thrive, so do we.”
Despite announcing the end of the Target boycott with Bryant, Turner said she personally will no longer do business with the retailer.
“I am not encouraging people to go back to shop at Target,” she said. “Ultimately, people have to make their own decision. But as for me and my house, we will not be going back to Target.”
Mallory said Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, apologized for the harm the DEI rollback caused black employees and customers but insists this apology needs to be public.
“My mother would like an apology, too, and she does not work for Target. So we sat across the table from the CEO and we asked Mr. Fiddelke: ‘When will you acknowledge the harm that has been caused to the black community outside of your employee meeting?'” she said. “To date that has not happened. So I ask again today, when will Target acknowledge the harm that has been caused to our community?”
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