Twin Cities activists rally crowd at Target HQ to boycott retailer after DEI rollback

A trio of Minnesotans who previously led reform efforts in the Twin Cities after George Floyd’s murder rallied more than 70 people outside Target’s corporate headquarters in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, calling for a boycott of the retailer over changes in the company’s diversity efforts.

“The reality is we all make up the fabric of America and should be embraced,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney, activist and founder of Racial Justice network, who led the rally with Jaylani Hussein and Monique Cullars-Doty.

“Somehow Target did not understand its decision would not only be offensive but [would be] bad for business. Many of us were regular Target shoppers before their announcement.”

Last Friday, Target retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals it had strengthened after Floyd’s murder by police in 2020 in Minneapolis, where the retailer is based. Those goals included pay equity and supplier network diversification, and one of its programs pledged millions of dollars to community efforts and businesses run by people of color.

“Many of us were stunned,” Levy Armstrong said of Target’s decision. “We thought that they would hold the line.”

The three organizers said they believe that President Donald Trump’s decision to end DEI programs in the government put pressure on Target and other companies. The president also called on federal departments to identify private ventures that should be investigated.

Hussein told the crowd that the three rally leaders believe Target would reverse its decision, possibly by the end of February, if a boycott holds.

“But it’s up to us,” he said.

Target said last Friday that it still believed diversity was important to meet business goals, and it has rolled out a new program, Belonging at the Bullseye, which a company spokesman said had been in the works since early 2021.

The company declined to comment on Thursday’s rally.

After the protesters held a news conference, Target’s headquarters entrance at Nicollet and 10th Street, which leads to the skyway, was closed, and guards directed people away from the building.

Twin Cities Pride has already dropped Target as a sponsor of its annual parade and festival over the company’s decision to scale back its DEI goals.

Other retailers, including Walmart and Amazon, have announced similar DEI moves, though some, including Costco, have reaffirmed their commitment.

Hussein, who has spoken at a variety of social justice protests in the Twin Cities metro, said Target’s decision signaled to people of color that while diversity of customers is important, diversity within the company’s ranks is not.

“In Minnesota, we know the metro areas are going to become more diverse, but there’s something that is not changing,” Hussein said.

White men, he said, still dominate high-level executive jobs at the state’s large companies.

Levy Armstrong said that after posting on Facebook, she heard from several previously loyal Target customers who cut up their Target Circle cards, canceled their Shipt subscriptions, deleted the Target app and limited, if not stopped, all purchases made at the retailer.

Cheryl Persigehl of Minneapolis, a business management consultant who is now boycotting Target, read a letter submitted to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

A professed Target shopper of 40 years, she cited Target’s “well-earned reputation” as an employer and corporate citizen as key determinants in her loyalty. But, she said, the retailer’s retreat in its commitment to DEI has changed her allegiance.

“What were you thinking?” Persigehl asked. “Apart from this being an act of corporate cowardice, how can you possibly believe this will be ‘good for business’?”

After cutting up her Target Circle card, Chauntyll Allen, founder of Love First Community Engagement and director of criminal justice and activism at the Wayfinder Foundation, was handed another card from the crowd.

“We’re cutting up cards today,” Allen told the crowd.

Raeisha Williams, who owns Heritage Corp., a company that specializes in loose-leaf teas, said she spent a year building a relationship with Target through the retailer’s training program.

But after a year of spending time and money drop-shipping products Target might use on its shelves, the buyer she was working with was replaced, she said at the rally.

Williams said she reached out to Target for more than a year but never received a reply.

As a customer, she said, she thought Target was making choices that impact accessibility for communities of color. For example, she said, her favorite laundry detergent, children’s vitamins and other everyday items were locked up at the University Avenue Midway store in St. Paul. When Williams shopped in Edina and Woodbury on different days, those items were on open shelves.

“I have felt disrespected, disregarded, devalued and unappreciated,” Williams said told the crowd.

Michael Wilson, who lives in downtown Minneapolis and attended the rally, said he does not have a problem with Target removing DEI initiatives if the company implemented a “true meritocracy” for its hiring process and overall policies.

However, he said, he does not believe the company is headed in that direction based on its current statements and he will boycott the store.

“It’s very disappointing because my kids love Target, and I just shopped Target the other day online, I’m not going to lie,” Wilson said.