No, the Target boycott is not over, activists say after claiming attempts at co-opting

Despite news circulating in national media that the Target boycott, now lasting more than 400 days, ended March 11, organizers of the national boycott in Minnesota say that is far from the truth. They claim the movement has been targeted for co-opting by activists outside the state.

State activists, including Monique Cullars-Doty and Dr. Nekima Levy Armstrong, held a press conference outside Target headquarters Wednesday to clear up rumors about the boycott’s status.

“This target boycott is not over. We are asking people to continue to stand with grassroots leadership in the state of Minnesota, where Target is actually headquartered, and not clout-chasers trying to co-opt our work,” Dr. Nekima Levy Armstrong said.

Armstrong is a co-founder of the national boycott that began in Minnesota in January 2025, along with Jaylani Hussein and Monique Cullars-Doty, after Target quickly scrapped its diversity, equity and inclusion model following Trump’s inauguration.

“They don’t speak for us. They didn’t stand in the gaps for us when George Floyd was killed or when Operation Metro Surge happened; we stood for us and with the community,” Armstrong said.

Since the boycott began, Target has seen a decline in sales and its stock price. Former Target CEO Brian Cornell stepped down, and the company’s current CEO, Michael Fiddelke, said the boycott was “one of the things” that hurt sales last year, according to the Associated Press.

Now, out-of-state activists, including Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant, along with colleagues Tamkia Mallory and Nina Turner, held a press conference at noon Wednesday in Washington claiming the boycott against Target was over and that at least 75% of the demands had been met.

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Target said it is “pleased to be moving forward” and will “continue showing up as trusted neighbors while delivering results for … team members, guests and the more than 2,000 communities” it serves.

While Target has reported that it will give $2 billion to Black-owned businesses and donate millions to Black education by Easter, organizers say no immediate concessions have been made and the DEI program has not been reinstated.

“Nothing has changed today. This is an effort to try to turn or use people. And we have seen that before in history,” Hussein, co-founder of the boycott and executive director of CAIR-MN, said. “We have seen boycotts before where people claim to speak for the community, and all they do is cross the picket lines.”

Pastor Bryant led a 40-day fast in Georgia last March, calling on others to boycott the company during Lent. During that time, he participated in press interviews with CNN, The Breakfast Club and other outlets, leaving leaders in Minnesota to believe the effort was more about publicity.

“The other reason that this is so important is because of the historical erasure of black women on the front lines,” Armstrong said. “If you look at what happened during the civil rights movement, it was the black women organizing behind the scenes that helped it become an actual movement. Their faces we don’t know, their stories we don’t know, because they’ve been effectively erased by the media and men in charge.”

Armstrong and her co-founders said they were never consulted before the “decision” to end the boycott and believe Bryant is attempting to co-opt a movement that predated his involvement.

“What did he get? I don’t believe he did it for nothing; he didn’t do it out of goodwill,” Cullars-Doty, founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, said. “What would motivate him to end the target boycott, knowing that we would respond, knowing he’s going to look like a fool. He’s an attention whore.”

News of the announcement spread quickly, with both national and local media outlets covering the development, including the Minnesota Star Tribune. Organizers said the coverage initially failed to acknowledge the Minnesota leaders as founders of the movement and used a photo of Armstrong’s 8-year-old daughter as the main image, a decision that has since been corrected.

“I saw the headline, I saw the story. I saw my daughter’s picture holding this sign and I was livid.”

Armstrong said she contacted Star Tribune CEO Steve Grove to share concerns, noting she had previously spoken with the reporter who wrote the story and believes the omission was intentional.

“She lacked journalistic ethics and integrity by writing that article and not including the founder. She referenced us in passing as if we were irrelevant.”

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has reached out to Pastor Bryant, Target and the Minnesota Star Tribune for comment but has not yet received a response.

“We’re not going to let a 2-bit, fake pastor hijack a movement built on the blood, sweat, and tears of the people of the state of Minnesota,” Armstrong said. “Pastor Jamal Bryant is not the leader of the nationwide target boycott.”

Izzy Canizares is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.