Pearl River      More than 150,000 people have signed a petition begun by a Black church to boycott Target department and multipurpose stores, because of their abandonment of their diversity, equity, and inclusion or DEI program.  I haven’t been in a Target for years, and I’m definitely not going in there now.

Organizers note that the stock price has dropped by 18% since the boycott began, but they aren’t bragging.  There could be many reasons.  Target has had a world of troubles in recent years, as it has fallen behind on e-commerce and competition with Walmart and Amazon.  A New York Times contributing columnist issued the clarion call to join in with him and his congregation.  His point was powerful and realistic.  He noted that it might or might not impact Target’s return to equal opportunity hiring and assuring that its workforce is diverse and meritorious, but it mattered anyway, because we have to take a stand and act.  As he said,

Part of self-respect is remembering one’s own agency. In that sense, it does not matter whether Target accedes to the demands to stay true to its D.E.I. commitments in the short term. It matters that we remember the power of collective action, the sense of self that arises when we act on principle.

As we watch the mighty and powerful prostrate themselves when threatened by the state, this is a forceful reminder, once again, that if we don’t stand up, we stand for nothing.  Watching Columbia University and likely many other elite, rich, and influential universities cave in to the blatantly illegal and withdrawal of funds by Trump is embarrassing for all of us and must be humiliating for them.  How would they pretend to stand for various academic principles of speech and intellectual freedom?  I understand that sometime you have to suck it up when you’re losing to save the organization to fight again in the future, but what’s the point of having an endowment of $13.4 billion, if you are not willing to take a measly $400 million out to cover your losses and protect the integrity of the institution?  The same point stands for these big law firms, like Paul, Weiss that made a deal to get Trump off their backs by offering him $40 million in free legal help.  The managing director of the firm claims that deal is consistent with their principles, but even without reading his gaslighting, it’s clear, they have none.  What happened to the recognition that “it’s only money,” and what we believe, and who we are is more important.?

The problem with boycotting the whole lot of them is that right now it’s easier to keep up with the ones who haven’t kissed Trump’s ring, rather than the legions of those who have.  Partly, as I’ve argued, a lot of businesses and other institutions were delighted to abandon DEI, because they were so bad at it.  The problem for those of us ready to roll with collective action is once we start boycotting, we may be hard pressed to buy groceries, clothes, and more.  Reading about some folks still buying Teslas still is a headscratcher.  Maybe if we do come together to kick Target off the rails, more will learn the lesson, but these days I’m just not sure anymore. When even those with deep pockets and boundless resources buck and run for cover, it once again seems like winning justice is on just us.