I’m going to miss shopping at Target

I’m so mad at Target right now that I don’t know when — or if — I’ll ever step back inside one again now that the discount retailer has announced a rollback back of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

It pains me to have to part ways with Tar-Jay. I was just there last week, buying a Red Flyer tricycle for my nephew that was on clearance. I got such a good deal that I circled back the next day and bought him a toy truck, also for next to nothing. Each time, as I lugged the merchandise to a checkout register, I found myself eyeing the colorful kitchen merchandise by vegan influencer Tabitha Brown. I told myself I would circle back another day when I had more time. Same thing with the new Blogilates yoga line by fitness influencer Cassie Ho.

Now, that day may never come.

As one shopper wrote on social media: “They pulling back DEI efforts. I’m pulling back my coins!” It is upsetting that it has come to this. Over the years, the discount retailer has had some amazing collaborations with a diverse group of designers. I look forward to Target’s Black History Month collection. Several years back, the store partnered with historically Black colleges and universities “to support the next generation of Black talent.” As Brown pointed out in a YouTube video posted over the weekend, boycotting Target will hurt minority-owned brands like hers, which is unfortunate.

Still, it will be a long time before you will catch me pushing around a red plastic shopping cart again. I’m not saying I’ll never go back. But for now, I intend to spend more of my time and money at other stores, including Costco, which hasn’t followed President Donald Trump’s anti-woke lead. (In the interest of full disclosure, my husband is a Costco shareholder, but even if he weren’t, I would still feel the same way.)

The best weapon consumers have is our wallets.

Trump made the eradication of DEI in the federal government a key campaign issue, along with the institution of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and retribution against his political enemies. Shortly after being inaugurated on Jan. 20, he signed an executive order calling for the elimination of all “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” programs in the federal government — as if attempts to increase opportunities for historically disadvantaged Americans are wrong.

DEI critics like to say the acronym stands for “didn’t earn it,” yet remain silent as Trump fills his cabinet with inexperienced and unqualified MAGA loyalists. It’s galling to watch, not to mention misguided. DEI programs are important because they increase representation of historically disadvantaged groups in majority-white settings. It’s not just a Black thing. Nor is it just an LGBTQ thing. In fact, the biggest beneficiaries of DEI are white women. But that hasn’t stopped conservatives from claiming it puts white Americans at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, Trump’s cabinet picks are once again predominantly white men. A government of the people should look like the people.

» READ MORE: Republicans go DEI on Kamala Harris at their own peril | Jenice Armstrong

Corporations such as Amazon, Meta, and McDonald’s have also throttled their DEI initiatives. Target officials announced Friday that they will no longer participate in external diversity-focused surveys or share data with the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community. That isn’t shocking considering the about-face the retailer made following right-wing pushback over its Pride collection two years ago. I’m not going to give up Meta or Amazon. But Target I can do without. Doing something is better than nothing.

We are not powerless. The best weapon consumers have is our wallets. As the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler pointed out on Meta on Friday, we need to revisit strategies of the past, such as the selective patronage program popularized by the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, founder of the Opportunities Industrialization Center and Progress Plaza in North Philly.

Sullivan began preaching about it in 1960 after getting repeatedly rebuffed when he approached businesses and asked them to hire African Americans. He urged members of Zion Baptist Church, “Don’t shop where you can’t work.” Other Black ministers followed suit. It caught on. Some businesses reconsidered and began hiring African American workers.

The same tactic can work today. “We don’t have [the] numbers to stop them all, but we do have numbers to stop some if we work in concert,” wrote Tyler, the former pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church in Society Hill. “What we need is to remember what we have already done and update the tactics for a new day.”

Some folks can’t be choosy about where they shop. But we should each examine our spending and become more intentional about where we spend our dollars in the face of so much pushback against diversity.