A leader in the Black faith community who has been spearheading a consumer boycott of Target is expanding his group’s efforts to put pressure on another retailer he said has retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion.
Next up is an electronic protest of Dollar General starting immediately. The protest will entail flooding the discount retailer’s email account and phone lines and a social media campaign to get it to change course.
At the same time, Jamal-Harrison Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, who led what started as a “Target Fast” during Lent that was extended into a longer boycott, said his group is moving to a “Target blackout” that will be indefinite.
“Target is canceled since they have betrayed and walked away from our community, and we’ve gone on from there,” Bryant told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. “We’re done with Target, and then our next focus will be around Dollar General.”
Why is the group protesting Dollar General?
Bryant said Dollar General has also “walked away from DEI and have said absolutely nothing.”Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“Like other corporations, Dollar General has bowed to pressure from the Trump administration and rolled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” Bryant said. “Dollar General also needs to be held accountable for failing to invest in the very Black and low-income communities that make up the backbone of their customer base. This isn’t just a corporate retreat − it’s a betrayal of the people they profit from.”
The call to action for Dollar General will be different from Target’s, Bryant said. Instead of boycotting shopping at Dollar General, the group is calling for “a mass technological campaign of telephone and e-mail and social media.” Supporters will be encouraged to clog the retailer’s phone lines and email and use social media to pressure Dollar General to reinstate its DEI initiatives, Bryant said.
Shoppers who want to stay away from Dollar General can, but Bryant is not calling for a full boycott because “a lot of our family members in rural communities are at the hands of Dollar General because of food deserts that bring a whole other conversation.”
