Rev. Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, an Atlanta-based pastor of the New Birth Baptist Church, has reported a robust national turnout for his consumer boycott against Minneapolis-based retail giant Target. The fast-selective-buying campaign, which began during the Lent Season from March 5 to April 17, targets what Bryant describes as the company’s neglect of the Black community. According to Bryant, the boycott has mobilized over 150,000 participants and persuaded over 100 Black vendors to withdraw their products from Target. The movement has led to a $12 drop per share in Target’s stock and a $2 billion decrease in its overall value. “We just hit 150 thousand people who have signed up to be part of it, with over 100 black vendors that pulled out of Target, so the momentum is going steadily,” Bryant explained.
The NAACP and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, have simultaneously announced the planning and implementation of a national public education and selective buying campaign in response to Target and other corporations that have dismantled their respective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments, programs and staffing. “Now is the time for the Black Press of America once again to speak and publish truth to power emphatically,” NNPA Chairman Emeritus Danny Bakewell Sr. explained. NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry Sr. added, “We are the trusted voice of Black America, and we will not be silent or nonresponsive to the rapid rise of renewed Jim Crow racist policies in corporate America.” “The Black Press of America continues to remain on the frontline keeping our families and communities informed and engaged on all the issues that impact our quality of life,” Henry noted.
Despite the traction, Bryant revealed that there had been no communication or planned meetings with Target. He humorously speculated that the White House may have encouraged Target officials to avoid meeting with civil rights groups. “No, we’re waiting. As we understand it, the administration is trying to get them not to meet and is hoping that this is just going to taper off,” Bryant remarked. “But unless President [Trump] is in trouble and buys a whole bunch of toilet paper, I don’t know what they expect the White House to do for them.” Bryant also discussed the Black Church leadership’s historical and present role in America’s civil rights and social justice movements. “The Black Church has always been the heartbeat and the epicenter of the civil rights movement,” he said, acknowledging the changing perceptions among younger generations regarding the church’s involvement in social justice.
Bryant called for continued focus and support from the community to maintain the boycott’s impact. “It is critical that Black people can’t afford to get A.D.D; we can’t taper off and lose synergy. It’s important that people stay the course and keep amplifying our voices because it is being heard from Wall Street to Main Street,” he urged. NNPA President & CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. said he’s known and witnessed the national and international rise of the Black Church leadership and commitment to Bryant. “In the tradition of Richard Allen, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we are pleased to state for the sake of historical accuracy that Jamal Bryant is today the personification of the prophetic tradition of the Black Church,” Chavis remarked. “We in the Black Press of America stand in rigid solidarity with Rev. Dr. Bryant as we target campaign Target’s egregious disrespect of Black America.”
