Jamal Bryant To Hold Protest Outside Target in Conyers
Pastor Jamal Bryant To Hold Protest Outside Target in Conyers
Pastor Jamal Bryant and his congregation are raising the stakes on their continued boycott of retail giant Target.
Fox 5 Atlanta reports that Bryant and members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church will stage a protest to coincide with the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. The protest will be held outside the Target in Conyers on May 25.
The planned protest is the latest response to Target’s elimination of its DEI programs. Earlier this year, Target announced that it would be ending its program it established in the wake of Floyd’s 2020 police killing. The program helped Black employees advance in the company, improved the experience of Black shoppers and promoted Black-owned businesses.
Target said it planned to end the program prior to the Trump Administration’s recent actions against DEI programs. The company also announced this past Friday (May 16) that it will end the DEI goals it previously set in three-year cycles.
In response, Bryant called for an initial “fast” of the company during Lent, which then expanded well past Easter.
“It is so critical and important that corporations would recognize and respect the Black dollar and our consumer power,” Bryant told FOX 5 in April. “Their stock has gone down; at the bottom of it, the valuation has gone down as well as the foot traffic.”
Bryant said that while Target agreed to a $2 billion pledge to support Black businesses, it has not met other demands, including bringing back the DEI goals and depositing profits into Black-owned banks.
“Corporations will see they can’t take Black dollars for granted and that we’re in here for the long haul,” he said.
Bryant says that 67 churches across the country will also hold their own protests and invites more to do the same. You can learn more about the protests at TargetFast.org.
