After a plethora of performative promises, proclamations and pledges following the murder of George Floyd, many corporations started dissolving their DEI programs and initiatives in the years that followed. Many in the DEI opposition have called for the death of DEI and in 2024, companies like Walmart, Boeing, Ford, John Deere and many others began to eliminate DEI-related policies and practices. In 2025, at the start of Trump’s second term, there was a surge in anti-DEI legislation and many companies joined the anti-DEI bandwagon, capitulating to the DEI opposition. Following the decision of many companies to retreat from DEI, consumers have banded together to resist and to make their voices heard.
In February 2025, after an announcement that Target would be scaling back its DEI initiatives, popular Atlanta Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant called for Black Americans to participate in a 40-day “fast” from Target for Lent. The fast, which started in March 2025, turned into a full-scale boycott that is still ongoing. Supporters of the boycott have attributed Target’s reported decline in sales and foot traffic in 2025 to the DEI boycotts.
Now, as the holiday season is underway, there are renewed calls to continue to boycott Target, along with two other companies: Home Depot and Amazon, in a new campaign called “We Ain’t Buying It”. Target is part of the campaign because of their DEI rollbacks. Amazon is a boycott target for this campaign for, “Funding this administration to secure their own corporate tax cuts.” Home Depot is also a focus, according to their website, “For allowing and colluding with ICE to kidnap our neighbors on their properties.” Target and Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson for Home Depot shared, “We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and we aren’t involved in the operations. We aren’t coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”
LaTosha Brown, the lead organizer for the “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign shared, “We are united in a powerful message: our dollars are our democracy too. This is a multicultural, multigenerational economic action where everyday people are reclaiming our power as consumers and investors, redirecting our spending to businesses that share our values, and resisting policies that harm our communities. Some folks are boycotting, some are refraining from purchasing, some are supporting local Black and brown-owned businesses,” Brown explained, “But all of us are exercising our economic voice. We built this economy. We sustain this economy. And we will no longer invest in companies that invest against us.”
Pastor Jamal Bryant shared more about the “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign that he’s encouraging the community to mobilize around. “We’re asking people to not shop at Home Depot, Amazon, and Target,” he shared, “because those Fortune 500 companies have walked away.” He explained that rather than calling it a boycott, they are calling it a redirect. “We’re asking people to spend specifically with Black businesses; not to not buy but to buy with Black businesses…I hope that Black companies in America will recognize the $2 trillion worth of spending power that Black people have. What is the impact when we unify our own ecosystem?”
Bryant went on to share the impact that the removal of DEI policies has had on the Black community. “It’s a betrayal. Black people are the number one consumer in this country. In every area, I think our dollars have been taken for granted. Black Friday historically got its name because that is the day that a lot of companies that are in the red are able to come into the black—because of consumer spending. So, a lot of these companies are gonna end up staying in the red, because they have not done right by all the Black consumers.”
Linda Moses-Baker, a consumer who is participating in the “We Ain’t Buying It” campaign shared in an email, “My motivation to support the 2025 economic blackout during the holiday season stems from a quote instilled in me: ‘If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.’ Over the past months I’ve seen our needs ignored and go unmet. Action makes noise. My shopping diversion sends the message that I will not shop where I’m not respected.” Moses-Baker shared what would persuade her to engage in holiday shopping this year. “The return of women in equal positions to corporate America, our products returning to visible positions on shelves and a reasonable price adjustment that supports affordability and builds the economy would encourage me to consider traditional holiday spending.”
When boycotts of this nature take place, some may worry about the impact on workers within the companies being boycotted. Bryant explained, “The executives are already harming the workers. The executives are making nine times more than what the workers are…50% of those who receive SNAP [benefits] are those who have a job. They’re not in a job that’s able to take care of them. America is the only place in the world where we have something called the working poor. You can work 40 hours a week and still don’t have enough to take care of your family. So, the brunt of that responsibility is not for the protestor, but for the executive who realizes that he’s starving his own workers.”
Bryant went on to explain, “We have been in this fight against Target since the end of January. Now here we are. Right on the cusp of December. It is not lost on us that the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is December 5th, where they went a year fighting for justice.” If corporations want to remain viable, Bryant explains, there must be a reprioritization of policies and practices that address workplace inequities. “What makes America great is diversity, equity, and inclusion. A lot of short-sighted people think that’s just about a Black issue…it’s not. The primary beneficiaries of DEI are white women…so, I do not say it out of partiality, but out of the greater vision of what can make Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community come to pass.”