Tabitha Brown has finally spoken on continuing to work with Target after the company announced that it, too, would be pulling back on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives along with other major corporations and retailers including Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s, Meta, and Lowe’s to name a few.
Tabitha has multiple brand partnerships with Target, selling seasoning, kitchenware, foodstuffs, stationery, etc. Brown initially took to Instagram and posted a silent gesture that was seemingly a response to the news about Target announcement. An ambiguous caption read, “I said what I said,” although Auntie Tab hadn’t said anything at all.
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However, on the evening of Jan. 25, the popular social media influencer- turned-household name, addressed the wild week it’s already been and having just started the new year. In her Instagram post, she quickly brought up Target’s decision and told her followers that “As disheartening as this is for me, I’m not the only one affected by this.”
She continued:
“It’s for everyone, woman-owned business, minority-owned businesses, it’s Black-owned businesses, it’s for so many of us who worked so very hard to be placed into retail—to finally be seen,” Tabitha said.
“Contrary to whatever the world might tell you, it’s been very hard for Black owned businesses to hit shelves.”
While Brown shared hers and other Black business owners journey into doing business with retailers who once provided opportunities through various DEI programs, she also disclosed that she has one more year in her contractual obligation with Target and that she’d be thinking about next steps for her businesses. In the meantime though, she urged consumers to continue to support her brand and others, albeit having to patronize Target, Walmart and other retailers to do so—because it keeps Black businesses on shelves and in business. Yet, Tab understands if that’s not the type of wave people are on.
“If we all decided to boycott and be like ‘we ain’t spending no money in these organizations,” then listen I get it,” Tabitha said. “If that’s how you feeling honey, I 1000% get it.”
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Tabitha expressed all the ways she and other Black businesses would be at a loss should a mass boycott ensue. She rallied her supporters to band together and buy whilst Black products were still being offered by retailers who are otherwise turning their backs on Black consumers.
On Jan. 24, Target released a memo through Kiera Hernandez, it’s executive vice president and chief community impact and equity officer, sharing a superficial plan called “Belonging at the Bullseye Strategy” that placated the current state DEI and outlined DEI-related actions that would be nixed immediately, some of which include the following:
- Concluding our three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
- Concluding our Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives in 2025 as planned.
- Stopping all external diversity-focused surveys, including HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.
- Evolving our “Supplier Diversity” team to “Supplier Engagement” to better reflect our inclusive global procurement process across a broad range of suppliers, including increasing our focus on small businesses.
In the face of Tabitha’s appeal, scores of social media users agreed and assured her that they had her back.
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And though many commenters were receptive, quite a few opposed:
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Jemele Hill, who had her own race-related issues that impacted her in the past, made some valid points and offered Tab her two cents:
“This is the unfortunate reality of trying to gain equality, respect and dignity in the same country that enslaved us. None of us want to hurt your business or undermine what you’ve built. But I think there’s room to put pressure on Target without hurting you and other Black retailers that are there – be it through social media campaigns, writing emails, shaming and embarrassing them, whatever.
Target needs to know [and] understand they can’t play in our face like that. Anyway, there are so many that support you. Target is not your end point and I hope that sometime soon a bigger and better retail offer comes through for you at a place that aligns more with your value system. And FWIW, I can tell you from that Spotify situation, that something better is always around the corner.”
What do you say Aunties? Is it the Black community’s responsibility to keep Black businesses afloat due to the erasure of DEI?
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