There is a growing number of organized boycotts against mega-retailers like Target, Walmart, and Amazon due to their rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Among the boycotts gaining traction is a 24-hour economic “Blackout” planned for Friday, February 28. Created by The People’s Union, the day of economic resistance is to show that “we the people are the system,” said John Schwarz, the man behind the Instagram account @TheOneCalledJai who announced the boycott.
“For decades, they have told us that we are powerless, that we have no control, and that this system is too big, too strong, too unshakable,” Schwartz said in his Instagram video that’s received over 255,000 likes.
“We are going to remind them who has the power. For one day, we turn it off for one day,” he explained.
“We shut it down for one day. We remind them that this country does not belong to the elite, it belongs to the people and this will work.”
Schwartz continued, “Some of you might say one day won’t make a difference, and that’s exactly what they want you to believe. “If enough of us participate, they will feel it, and if they don’t listen, we will escalate.”
After the 24-hour day of no spending, The People’s Union is following up with a week-long boycott of Amazon purchases. From March 7 through March 14, the group asks consumers to halt all spending with the mega-online retailer in response to Amazon ending its DEI initiatives.
“I’m trying to use my platform right now to organize and gather
people who can see past what divides us and potentially maybe down the road legally find some way to unionize ourselves, to create a powerful voice within the system to create change,” Schwarz told USA Today.“But for now, the economic blackout is about getting people together, up off the couch, so to speak, to do something together.”
Other boycotts include an indefinite halt to shopping at Target. After the retail giant scaled back its DEI initiatives and efforts to promote products from diverse founders, shoppers chose to buy from Black-owned businesses instead.
“Target was a beloved community that seemed to build its model around embracing diversity and being intentionally inclusive of having Black brands on the shelves, having beautiful Black History Month displays. For them to essentially bow down to the mandates of the Trump administration was unacceptable,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and founder of the Racial Justice Network.
Comedian and actress Leslie Jones shared a video on her Instagram announcing a series of planned boycotts starting in February and lasting through the end of the year. The campaign begins and ends with encouraging purchases from Black-owned businesses, followed by boycotts lasting one to two months at a time against Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
Pastor Jamal-Harrison Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia urges the faith community to begin a 40-day shopping fast from Target during Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, March 5. A website, www.targetfast.org, has been set up to provide more information.
“What we learned from the Montgomery Bus Boycott is that racist America doesn’t respond to speeches. They respond to dollars,” Bryant said.