Some students began supporting a nationwide economic boycott in January against major chain corporations to protest the companies’ repealing diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
After President Donald Trump issued an executive order Jan. 21 targeting DEI practices in public and private sectors, dozens of companies terminated their diversity practices and programs, leading some students to abstain from purchasing from them. Junior Shawn Conley, the president of the Gamma Alpha Phi chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., said his chapter posted about the movement on Instagram to get people’s attention about the ongoing initiative and to stand in solidarity with calls for a boycott by civil rights leader Al Sharpton, a member of the fraternity.
“We decided that it would be beneficial for us to use our platform to spread the word, at the very least, get people to pay attention because this is something that affects them, even if they don’t necessarily see that immediate impact,” Conley said.
Target and Walmart were some of the first Fortune 500 companies to announce in January and November, respectively, that they would end DEI initiatives. Other major companies, like McDonald’s and Amazon, have also been a target for boycotts after removing certain DEI programs.
The corporations’ decisions have received backlash from consumers — particularly those in the Black community — with Black faith leaders, like Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant in Georgia, calling for a 40-day fast or boycott of Target.
A grassroots startup, The People’s Union USA, launched a series of “economic blackouts” against companies that have complied with the president’s DEI rollback efforts on a weekly basis.
Conley said he’s completely stopped shopping at Target but did not shop at Walmart before the boycott, so it was an easy switch for him. He said he continues supporting Black-owned businesses and plans to shop at CVS to substitute his Target purchases amid the boycott.
Conley said he’s not certain that the boycotts will have a long-term financial impact on the targeted companies but that he believes they serve as an awareness campaign to get others to integrate DEI as a core component of society.
“Not just specifically bringing DEI back, but also making sure that DEI is becoming the norm, more so the norm and just an accepted part of American life,” Conley said.
Conley said Phi Beta Sigma is planning an event that will explain to students what DEI is and the issues it is meant to address, like discriminatory practices in organizations, for people to know how to get involved and be “solution-focused.”
“Most people, I think, are generally aware of the basics regarding DEI, it’s just a matter of, well, why is this important to me? And how can I get involved” he said.
He said older grassroots movements, like the LGBTQ+ and civil rights movements have been successful, and it’s the work that starts “on the ground” that changes societal norms.
“It’s important to remember that when parties do change and when things change in the government, normally, it’s something that change within society first, so going around, getting involved in ways that you’re helping to change people’s minds on the ground, that’s a powerful thing that can lead to change on the national scale,” Conley said.
Junior Jennifer Martinez Perez, a political science student from the Atlanta area, said it was “disheartening” as a first-generation Mexican American to learn about companies removing their DEI policies.
Martinez said it’s “hard to say” if she’s actively participating in the boycott because most of the targeted companies aren’t on campus, but some of her family members no longer shop at Walmart, which is a major shopping center in her hometown because of the company’s shifted stance on DEI.
Walmart announced in November that the company would not renew a racial equity center established through a five-year, $100 million philanthropic commitment to address root causes of inequity in the Black community. The company also said it would pull out of a gay rights index and not prioritize suppliers based on race or gender.
“Now my family goes shopping to farmer markets and other small Mexican stores, so they don’t really go to those places anymore,” Martinez said.
Martinez said she supports the sentiments of the boycotts, but people will eventually “lose the energy” to participate because it could inconvenience them by spending more time and money going to a different company.
“That’s probably going to take priority over the DEI backlash that the U.S. has been giving,” Martinez said.
Martinez said people who can’t participate in the boycott can find other ways to express their disapproval for the policy changes, like calling their representatives in Congress and continuing to advocate for DEI as an individual.
“Reflecting back on, what are the things that I as an individual can do and not being afraid to continue showing your support for DEI if you support it because there’s currently a lot of noise against it and that can be disheartening for people that don’t look like the traditional person, whenever you’re trying to reach these others spheres of society,” Martinez said.
Senior Kyle Balfour, a political science and international affairs major, said the boycott allows students to feel more in control of their rights as consumers and the power of big companies.
“The boycott is definitely very important to demonstrate that we aren’t tied to these major companies, that they don’t rule our buying habits,” he said.
Karan Raina, a first-year studying sociology, said he has been trying to purchase less from companies that have revoked their DEI policies, like Target, for his own peace of mind in order to not “sit around” during this movement.
“It is wrong to sit there and act like everything is cool,” Raina said.
Raina said he hopes this movement will create enough pressure for companies to listen to consumers that are no longer consuming their products or using their services. Raina said the sustainability of the boycott depends on people’s motivation.
“That’s the hardest thing for movements, is to sustain momentum,” Raina said. “But I believe in this movement. That’s why I’m a part of this, why I’m sticking with it.”
Thara Ellsworth, a sophomore studying political science, said the boycotts are more about DEI initiatives focused on the communities the stores are serving rather than diverse hiring practices based on what she has read on Instagram. She said she is participating in the boycott by minimizing Amazon purchases. Amazon said in December it would be “winding down outdated programs and materials” but did not specify which ones would be discontinued.
Ellsworth said she would like to see more organizations on campus speak out in favor of the boycott.
“I think it’s certainly something we’d all be willing to bring up once we’re in this space, it’s more than like we haven’t been able to schedule meetings as much because we’re all busy” Ellsworth said.
