28 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY APRIL 24-30, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com It was apparent that Musk had become a political liability to Trump. T he “Black Wall Street Ticker” is the first thing one notices about the homepage of targetfast.org. The black scrolling banner lists companies under boycott —denoted by a red dot by each company’s name—as well as those groups are “buycotting,” the companies to support, marked with a green dot. “Vote with your wallet,” the ticker states. Top of the boycott list is Target, which four days after Trump’s inauguration announced it was ending its DEI programs, reportedly due to pressure from conservative groups and Trump’s threats of investigations into supposedly “illegal” DEI programs. In addition, Target announced it was ending its Racial Equity Action and Change program that promised to invest $2 billion in Black-owned businesses in 2025. The response from Black organizations was swift, urging the public to boycott Target. Pastor Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, called for a Target fast over the 40 days of Lent, March 5-April 17, leveraging the practice of fasting that some Christians follow during Lent. Bryant called it a “spiritual act of resistance.” The fast took hold at churches across the country, with organizers announcing that over 150,000 people had pledged their support. In interviews, Bryant said he called for the fast for several reasons: Target is headquartered in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed; Black consumers spend $12 million a day at Target; the company is on 20,000 college campuses but not one HBCU (historically black colleges and universities); Target is the largest employer of Black people, outside of the federal government. Members of the Monterey County Black Caucus and several Black churches in the county are participating in the fast, says Rosalyn Green, one of the founders of the caucus. “This is a Target fast, it’s not a forever boycott. It is a spiritual fast, but it is a strategic fast,” Green says. “It’s not that we don’t love Target, it’s that Target needs to love us back.” Black people’s spending power is around $1.6 trillion—“That’s trillion with a T,” Green says for emphasis— and corporations should be mindful of their contribution. “We’re cultural and economic drivers. Why are we pouring dollars into systems that don’t pour back into us?” she says. (Target officials did not respond to requests for comment.) The Caucus has pushed out information to all of its members, local Black churches and other nonprofit partners about the Target fast. They are also encouraging people to shop at Black-owned businesses, as well as other local businesses. “We spend with intention and not convenience, even if it’s not necessarily Black owned. We are definitely leaning into our ma-and-pop shops, the local places,” Green says. On April 11, Target’s stock price hit its lowest point in four years—$88.76 a share on April 6, compared to a high of $266.38 a share in 2021—and its weekly foot traffic numbers had also continued to decline. “It’s not just resistance. It’s redirection, it’s restoration, it’s economic restoration—and it’s long overdue,” Green says. On Easter Sunday, April 20, Bryant told his church that the fast was now a boycott. He said he met with Target CEO Brian Cornell during the fast, resulting in Cornell pledging to invest $2 billion in Black-owned businesses by July 31. But other demands remain unmet. “We gave you 40 days to answer four [demands], not one,” Bryant said. “We ain’t going back in there.” T he Target boycott officially ended April 17, but the People’s Union USA extended its own economic blackout through Easter weekend. “It is a holiday weekend and that’s the moment we strike, not with violence, not with chaos, but with silence, with resistance and with our power,” John Schwartz, the group’s leader, said on social media on April 4. He said it was a message to “every corporation engaged in price gouging” and profiting “while families suffer.” “We are done, no shopping, no fast food orders, no unnecessary spending,” he said. The group’s first blackout on Feb. 28 “grabbed the attention of the entire world,” Schwartz said. “Millions stood in solidarity. People came together, and for the first time in a long time they realized that we are the economy.” It’s unclear exactly how much these boycotts organized by the People’s Union are impacting sales at the companies in question. Forbes reported that Amazon’s sales actually increased by 6 percent during a weeklong boycott that took place March 7-14. The boycotts of Target and Tesla by other groups appear to have had more impact. Robinson, from her home in Elkhorn Slough, shares Schwartz’s sentiment, that corporations have forgotten the people, and that people have the power to speak, if only through money. “I think a lot of people feel this way, as though our voices are not important,” Robinson says. It’s made people seek other ways to protest, “to say yes we do have some kind of power…Is it working? I don’t know, but it makes you feel less helpless,” she says. In Pacific Grove, Adler says it’s the legacy of her Jewish grandparents who fled antisemitism in Europe before World War I that has her committed to her decision to boycott Amazon. “I come from people who did their best to do right, and I owe it to them to think carefully and thoughtfully about the consequences of what I do and how I spend my money,” Adler says. “I’m 76 years old; there’s a limit to what I can personally do in terms of physically standing up,” she says. “I am not a person of power, but at least I can do what’s in front of me.” RESOURCES FOR ECONOMIC RESISTANCE The People’s Union USA: thepeoplesunionusa.com Tesla Takedown: teslatakedown. com Target Fast: targetfast.org Monterey County Black Caucus: bit.ly/MoCoBlackCaucus Black-owned businesses in Monterey County: seemonterey.com/blog/ black-owned-businesses csumb.edu/oc3/african-americanblack-diaspora-resource-guide ncbimonterey.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/06/Local-BlackOwned-Businesses.pdf Shop at nonprofit thrift stores: Reduce, reuse, recycle—and support a local cause. “I don’t want to give [Bezos] my money. It’s not a hell of a lot of money, but I don’t want to give him my money.” Above: Cheryl “Rebelle” Robinson, who lives near Elkhorn Slough, carries one of her chickens as she retrieves some chicken feed. She and her family have cut back on spending and are relying on using what they have. It’s one way she feels less powerless: “The corporations have gotten so big it’s not fair anymore.” Below: Some local Tesla drivers have taken to showing while they support electric vehicle technology, they don’t support CEO Elon Musk. DANIEL DREIFUSS SARA RUBIN
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