Tabitha Brown says a Target boycott could hurt Black-owned businesses but expresses empathy: ‘I one thousand percent get it’
Tabitha Brown joins others raising concerns about how boycotting Target could negatively impact diverse businesses: "It has been very hard for Black-owned businesses to hit shelves."
After Target announced that it is rolling back DEI efforts throughout its brand, leading to calls to boycott the retailer, Black and brown brands, and those owned by women, have found themselves caught in the middle.
On Saturday, Emmy-winning actress and vegan lifestyle guru Tabitha Brown uploaded a video to Instagram urging the public to consider the diverse brands at stake.
“As disheartening as it is for me, I’m not the only one affected by this,” said Brown, who has dropped multiple collections, from swimwear to home goods to haircare to cookware to food, with Target since 2022.
“It’s for everyone who is a woman-owned business, minority-owned business, and Black-owned business,” she continued. “It’s for so many of us who have worked so very hard to be placed into retail—to finally be seen and [have] a proof of retail because, contrary to whatever the world might tell you, it has been very hard for Black-owned businesses to hit shelves. Which is why it’s such a big deal when we do and finally land inside of retail. So, it is definitely heartbreaking to feel unsupported.”
Along with Brown’s various collections, Target’s Black-owned brands down the grocery aisle include BLK & Gold Coffee, Ghetto Gastro, Partake, Kahawa Coffee, A Dozen Cousins, and Junita’s Jar. The beauty and haircare department features Bevel, The Lip Bar, Proudly Company, Pattern, and Honeypot. The home and office departments carry Be Rooted, and Houston White, and the toy section carries Afro Unicorn.
In her lengthy nearly 10-minute statement, Brown acknowledged she did understand if folks were set for the boycott.
“However, I am in business in multiple ways: with Target, with Walmart, and Amazon. I sell Donna’s Recipe, my haircare products on Amazon and in Target, and of course, I have a huge partnership with Target. I sell my seasonings at Walmart. I do business all over. Just like many other people,” she explained. “And what I can tell you is, if we all decide to boycott and be like, ‘No, we’re not spending no money at these organizations,’ listen I get it. And if that’s how you feel, honey, I one thousand percent get it.”
Over the weekend, We Are Somebody.org posted on social media calling for a boycott of the chain to begin on Feb. 1.
“Starting February 1st, we are somebody is calling on a mass boycott of all target stores,” they began in the post’s caption.
“Friday, [Target] announced that they are rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives,” the caption continued. “Since 2020, Target’s DEI programs has been an example of how corporations can do something positive. The announcement that they will be ending these programs is infuriating. We will not be silent.”
In her video, Brown continued with a warning about the potential ways a boycott could hurt Black businesses instead of help.
“So many of us would be affected,” she expressed. “Our sales would drop and our businesses would be hurt. And if any of you know business, it doesn’t just happen overnight—where you can just go take all your stuff and pull it off the shelves. There’s a process. And then, where are you gonna put it? You gotta have a place to store it, and that’s money. Then, you gotta have another place to sell it. Which is almost impossible sometimes. And even if you sell online, it’s a process when it comes to business. And everyone does not have the funds or the means or the availability or the space to house their own products.”
She added, “The thing that concerns me the most—and I want you to hear me and hear me well—if we all decide to stop supporting said businesses and say, ‘I can’t buy nothing from there,’ the business who were affected by the DEI ban, what that does is you take all of our sales and they dwindle down.”
On Friday, it was announced that the Minneapolis company sent a memo to its employees informing them they were discontinuing their three-year DEI goals, ending reports to outside groups like the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, and ending efforts focused on diversifying their selves.
The swift end arrives nearly five years after Target launched the “Belonging at the Bullseye” initiative in response to the killing of George Floyd in 2020. The initiative was meant to bolster Black employees’ career paths, improve the shopping experience for Black consumers, and promote Black-owned businesses.
The news also arrives on the heels of other major corporations slashing away at their own DEI initiatives, including Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s, Ford, Harley-Davidson, and John Dere.
Meanwhile, Costco announced in mid-January that it will be maintaining its DEI efforts.
Addressing the rising concern of how a boycott could impact diverse brands, We Are Somebody updated their posts, suggesting consumers uphold the boycott by only shopping from Black and brown brands carried on the retailer’s shelves.
More About:Lifestyle
You Might Like
