Daughters Of Target Founder ‘Alarmed’ At DEI Ditch

First, let’s be real about one thing: Target and many other corporate brands hopped on the Black solidarity train amid social upheaval following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. For us, it was the launch of a movement; for them, it was a trend to capitalize on.

Then, once President Donald Trump was back in office and “death to DEI” became the new wave, those corporations hopped on the next train, where MAGA-induced white supremacy is the conductor, and now they’re rolling back their DEI policies, which they were never under any obligation to do.

Anyway, the daughters of one of Target’s co-founders are not happy with the company’s path, including its decision to reverse its efforts to find, fund, and promote more brands founded by people of color.

From CBS News:

In letters to the editor published Thursday in The Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times, Anne and Lucy Dayton said their father, Bruce Dayton, along with his four other brothers, expanded the Minneapolis department store into a massive brand that became Target that was built on two principles: a focus on the customer and the well-being of the community.

Bruce Dayton died in 2015 at 97.

“We are alarmed how quickly the business community has given in to the current administration’s retaliatory threats,” the daughters wrote. “It is not ‘illegal’ for a company to create a business model based on what it believes to be important ethical and business standards.”

They added that, “By cowering, Target and others are undermining the very principles that have made their companies a success.”

The thing is, it’s easy to believe these businesses are simply “cowering” before Trump, but what if it’s even more dubious than that? Again, it really appears to be the case that corporations were hopping on 2020’s social justice wave because they saw an opportunity to profit, but now the pendulum has swung back in the direction of the white and eternally fragile, resulting in the anti-DEI movement, so now, after pretending to care about Black people and people of color, those corporations are changing course in the direction the MAGA wind blows.

From NBC News:

When retailers launched supplier diversity programs — many of them in the months after police killed George Floyd in 2020 — top industry leaders including Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and Target CEO Brian Cornell spoke out about the institutional barriers thatpeople of color face, including when financing their businesses. Now, as more retailers drop diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Black-owned brands may find it harder to clear those hurdles.

In January, Target dropped specific DEI pledges that it made four years ago after Floyd was murdered a short distance from its Minneapolis headquarters. Among those goals, the big-box retailer hadcommitted to adding products from more than 500 Black-owned brands to its shelves or website and spending $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025.

Late last year, Walmart confirmed that it was ending key diversity initiatives, including winding down the Center for Racial Equity, a nonprofit that the retailer started and funded with $100 million to tackle racial inequities. It had chosen finance as one of those focus areas, noting the gap in funding for Black entrepreneurs.

Source: Smith Collection/Gado / Getty

So, what happened? I mean, it’s not like, five years later, fewer “institutional barriers” prevent vendors of color from achieving the same visibility and success as larger and whiter vendors. Centuries of racial disparities didn’t suddenly correct themselves once Trump was sworn into office. (Quite the opposite, actually.) Maybe — just maybe — these brands never actually cared about racial injustice, they just cared about getting in on the trend. (How such a massive racial justice movement was so quickly reduced to a passing trend is another post for another day.)

Of course, Target has claimed that it had already made the decision to end its DEI initiatives — which included a program it established just after Floyd’s murder to help Black employees build careers, help Black shoppers have better shopping experiences, and promote Black-owned businesses — before Trump was reelected, but the timing of its announcement that it was slashing its DEI programs makes that pretty hard to buy. 

“For decades, Target has benefitted from nearly unfettered support from Minnesota residents, families and consumers all around the country. In the past, Target was known for its diversity initiatives and reputation for supporting diverse communities,” said civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong. “Now Target has shown its true face.”

Exactly.