And the betrayal didn’t stop there.

Instead of engaging the Black organizers in the Twin Cities who launched the national Target boycott on Feb. 1, 2025 — right in front of Target’s global headquarters in downtown Minneapolis — Target held a private meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton and also recently gave a $300,000 donation to the National Baptist Convention (NBC) — a move many view as a payoff, not a partnership. Neither Sharpton nor the NBC has been involved in organizing the boycott. That meeting was not just a slap in the face. It was an erasure of our leadership and our work.

It’s especially troubling that while women make up over 60% of Target’s customer base, the company chose to engage out-of-state Black male ministers — figures with no direct connection to the boycott — instead of the local, Black women-led coalition that actually launched it. This approach doesn’t just sideline the voices of those most impacted — it reinforces the patriarchal patterns that have long erased Black women’s leadership.

Target does not get to pick and choose who speaks for our community. We are the people who showed up. We are the ones who held the line. We have been in the streets, taking tear gas, arrests, and risks — not for applause, but for accountability.

And from the very beginning, we were not alone.

White allies stood with us from day one — because they understand that racial justice is not just a Black issue, it’s an American one. They know that DEI opens doors for women, for people of color, people with disabilities and for LGBTQ+ communities. In fact, Target’s recent missteps also deeply harmed LGBTQ+ customers and staff, many of whom felt unsafe, unseen and unwelcome.