Target’s leadership changes a sign of boycott’s power, Atlanta pastor says
Pastor Jamal Bryant isn’t ready to retire his marching shoes yet.
Last week, after Target announced Brian Cornell is stepping down as the company’s chief executive after 11 years but staying with the Minneapolis-based retailer as executive chairman of its board, Bryant was in his office working on his Sunday sermon.
In between writing, he fielded a flurry of media interviews as one of the key faces and voices of the monthslong boycott over Target’s retreat from diversity policies.
“The reality is we shook up America this week. We shook up Target this week,” Bryant, the pastor of Atlanta’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, told the congregation during the Sunday service.
“They wouldn’t go through all of those hoops had you not withdrawn your dollars, if you had not redirected your income,” he said.
Target’s leadership change follows a sales slump and falling stock prices that have plagued the retailer for multiple quarters. The retailer also has come under fire from LGBTQ+ groups.
Last week, the company named Michael Fiddelke, chief operating officer and a 20-year company veteran, as the new CEO, effective February 2026.
A Target spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that in 2022, the company said it was extending Cornell’s tenure three more years. “The succession process was executed over several years and is unrelated to boycotts,” the spokesperson said.
But in a Thursday interview, Bryant called the Target protest the most significant movement of Black people in 70 years, “since the Montgomery bus boycott.”
So, he is still preaching. Still marching. And still proving, he said, “that the Black church and the unification of Black dollars is a force to be reckoned with and shouldn’t be underestimated.”
In his first days back in the White House, President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and Target was among prominent American brands to respond by rolling back initiatives.
But Target, which operates nearly 2,000 U.S. stores, was hit harder by backlash than some others, experts said, because the company was known for promoting and selling products from minority communities.
“Target was always so inclusive and accepting that this really left people frustrated,” said Joe Feldman, senior managing director and assistant director of research for investment firm Telsey Advisory Group. Feldman said Target has been hit by other factors than the boycott.
In a late January memo, Target reportedly said it would end its three-year DEI goals, stop reporting to external diversity surveys and end a program to carry more Black-owned brands, according to CNBC.
Following that news, Target saw its nationwide foot traffic decline each month from February to June, according to data from location data company Placer.ai, which tracked year-over-year change in monthly visits. The declines were more steep in states with the biggest shares of Black residents, including Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Though, Placer.ai notes, changes in foot traffic can be tied to various factors, including holidays, weather conditions and tariff uncertainty.
Bryant, who initially called for a 40-day Lenten fast from Target, said: “There’s no way that they can tap dance around the impact of the boycott.”
‘A red line’
Target’s pullback from its diversity policies was a stark reversal from April 2021, nearly a year after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, when Target announced bold commitments to Black-owned businesses. The company, headquartered in the city where Floyd was killed, pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned companies by 2025 and add more than 500 Black-owned brands to its stores.
“Them going back on their promise after George Floyd was a red line,” said Gerald Griggs, an Atlanta-area activist and president of the Georgia NAACP.
“They were very vocal — especially considering it happened in Minneapolis — that they were going to use all their resources to help bridge the gap that happened, improve relations in the community, and invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Griggs, who like all of the organization’s members, is supporting the boycott in his personal capacity, not as part of an official NAACP action. “Many African Americans and people of good conscience could not see themselves continuing to support Target, and that’s what this economic disturbance has turned into.”
In response to questions, Target shared a July op-ed Cornell wrote for Essence magazine, where he said, “Let me be clear: our commitment to opportunity for all and inclusion is unwavering.”
Cornell said this year, Target will complete several of its commitments, such as investing $2 billion in Black-owned businesses and pouring $100 million into Black-led community organizations. The company also said it is expanding access to education by working with more than 20 historically Black colleges and universities, among other efforts.
A ‘unique point’ in time
Boycotts generate conversation, but rarely do they impact a company’s sales, said Ryan Hamilton, associate marketing professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
“There are rare exceptions, though, where they hit hard,” he said. One example was in 2023 when Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and its sales plummeted after backlash from prominent conservatives.
Hamilton said he believes the Target boycott came at a time when consumers are increasingly buying products that resonate with their values, whether that be social, political or religious. Some people were growing dissatisfied with the policies of Trump’s second term, he said.
“This pastor comes out and provides an avenue for expressing that opinion,” he said. “This may have been a unique point in time.”
Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group said the boycotts may have tangentially impacted Target’s leadership change but noted the company’s struggles date back a few years.
“I think it has more to do with the fact that Target’s performance has lagged coming out of the pandemic,” Feldman said. When sales slowed after the pandemic peak, the company had heavy markdowns to clear excess inventory, he said.
Target also dealt with backlash in 2023 from conservative groups in response to its Pride Month merchandise. When it withdrew the collection, the company faced criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
Feldman said also noted Target’s “store standards have slipped a bit.”
“The stores don’t look quite as neat and tidy as they normally do,” he said. “The lines take a little longer.”
Target’s incoming CEO Fiddelke, during an earnings call last week, mentioned three priorities: revamping store merchandise, improving customer experience and investing in technology.
“I know we’re not realizing our full potential right now,” he said. “I’m stepping into the role with a clear and urgent commitment to build new momentum in the business and get back to profitable growth.”
Bryant said he plans to “keep the pressure on” and wants to request a meeting with Fiddelke.
“The stakes are high, and this generation needs to win,” he said. “You’re going to see it all over the country. Target has felt the wrath of the conscientious objection of people who realized that they were being disrespected.”
About the Authors
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
