(March 5 – April 17) BOYCOTT – A Lenten Fast from Corporations: A Call to Spiritual Resistance!

Our header always asks what you would have done during slavery, the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights movement.

If you are a White person, here’s a chance to answer that question. Just a handful of White people helped with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Same for the lunch counter sit-ins. Here’s an opportunity to tell MLK’s ghost that White people have FINALLY stood up for their Black and Brown neighbors against corporate racism, from DAY 1! Follow their call to boycott!

Part 2

Register to partner with this fast and connect to Black vendors instead: http://www.targetfast.org

(targetfast.org) “…This Lent, we will begin a corporate fast, starting with Target, as a spiritual act of resistance. Just as Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, challenging the exploitation and hypocrisy of his day, we too must disrupt business as usual. Fasting is not just about what we abstain from—it is about what we embrace. By redirecting our resources toward businesses that uphold justice, we embody our commitment to God’s vision of equity and love in action.
 
This is a fast for accountability. A fast for justice. A fast for a future where corporations do not bow to pressure at the expense of marginalized communities. As we journey through these 40 days, let us pray, reflect, and act—knowing that our collective sacrifice can bring about transformation.
 
Join us as we stand in faith and resist with purpose. Let this Lenten fast be a witness to the power of conviction, reminding the world that justice is not negotiable.

The urgency of now

At this hour, there is a lot on the line for the African American community. Black History Month and Juneteenth will not be recognized by the federal government. Schools are being penalized for teaching our history. Civil rights cases have been halted. Mass deportations have begun. Guantanamo Bay is being prepared to become a concentration camp, and diversity, equity, and inclusion are being dismantled right before our eyes.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired!

Black America is the world’s 12th wealthiest nation in spending power. We are strong consumers with astounding brand loyalty. To see companies we’ve supported heavily—like McDonald’s, Ford Motors, Amazon, Meta, and Walmart—betray our long-standing relationship is beyond disheartening. 

The greatest insult comes from Target, which pledged to spend over $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, only to find out that Target stopped the program at the start of the year.  Black people spend over $12 million a day at Target…

…Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand 

The four  demands of Target

  1. Honor the 2 billion dollar pledge to the black business community  through products, services, and black media buys 
  2. Deposit 250 million amongst any of our 23 black banks 
  3. Completely restoring the franchise commitment to DEI 
  4. Pipeline community centers at 10 HBCU to teach retail business at every level

Deeper Dive!

Random facts to ponder for Black History Month

“Today’s fact involves the number “30%.”

“…according to the Census of 1860, 30.8 percent of the free families in the confederacy owned slaves. That means that every third white person in those states had a direct commitment to slavery.” (https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.10.20.pdf)

Today, “White men hold 62 percent of all elected offices despite being just 30 percent of the population, exercising minority rule over 42 state legislatures, the House, the Senate and statewide offices from coast to coast, according to the analysis by Reflective Democracy.

(thehill) ““I think if we saw these numbers in another country, we would say there is something very wrong with that political system,” Carter, direct of the study, told The Guardian. “We would say, ‘how could that possibly be a democratic system with that kind of demographic mismatch?’”

How indeed?

What is DEI, beyond the 51% if the country who are women?

“Among seven DEI experts and industry leaders CNN has interviewed, most had a shared vision for what constitutes the concept:

  • Diversity is embracing the differences everyone brings to the table, whether those are someone’s race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability or other aspects of social identity.
  • Equity is treating everyone fairly and providing equal opportunities.
  • Inclusion is respecting everyone’s voice and creating a culture in which people from all backgrounds feel encouraged to express their ideas and perspectives.

DEI was created because marginalized communities have not always had equal opportunities for jobs or felt a sense of belonging in majority-White corporate settings, said Daniel Oppong, founder of The Courage Collective, a consultancy that advises companies on DEI.

“That is the genesis of why some of these programs exist,” he said. “It was an attempt to try to create workplaces where more or all people can thrive.”

What would MLK Jr. do?

Lots of GOP legislators mis-remember and misuse MLK Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, shamelessly perverting 35 words into approval for their anti-DEI, anti-CRT legislation, and the demise of affirmative action, while spreading inaccurate nonsense about his life.

What they may have completely forgotten in their fake praise is his advocacy for economic boycotts. Here is an excerpt of his statement on ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

“Often our movement has been referred to as a boycott movement. The word boycott, however, does not adequately describe the true spirit of our movement. The word boycott is suggestive of merely an economic squeeze devoid of any positive value. We have never allowed ourselves to get bogged in the negative; we have always sought to accentuate the positive. Our aim has never been to put the bus company out of business, but rather to put justice in business.

These twelve months have not at all been easy. Our feet have often been tired. We have struggled against tremendous odds to maintain alternative transportation. There have been moments when roaring waters of disappointment poured upon us in staggering torrents. We can remember days when unfavorable court decisions came upon us like tidal waves, leaving us treading in the deep and confused waters of despair. But amid all of this we have kept going with the faith that as we struggle, God struggles with us, and that the arc of the moral universe, although long, is bending toward justice. We have lived under the agony and darkness of Good Friday with the conviction that one day the heightening glow of Easter would emerge on the horizon. We have seen truth crucified and goodness buried, but we have kept going with the conviction that truth crushed to earth will rise again.

Now our faith seems to be vindicated. This morning the long awaited mandate from the United States Supreme Court concerning bus segregation came to Montgomery. This mandate expresses in terms that are crystal clear that segregation in public transportation is both legally and sociologically invalid. In the light of this mandate and the unanimous vote rendered by the Montgomery Improvement Association about a month ago, the year old protest against city busses is officially called off, and the Negro citizens of Montgomery are urged to return to the busses tomorrow morning on a non-segregated basis.”

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (read it again here if you haven’t done so in awhile – (https://www.csuchico.edu/…/susi-letter-from-birmingham…), MLK expresses his profound disappointment in white moderates, who can’t seem to maintain any effort that even slightly inconveniences them.

“I had hoped that the white moderate would see this. Maybe I was too optimistic. Maybe I expected too much. I guess I should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate yearnings of those that have been oppressed, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too small in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some, like Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, and James Dabbs, have written about our struggle in eloquent, prophetic, and understanding terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They sat in with us at lunch counters and rode in with us on the freedom rides. They have languished in filthy roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of angry policemen who see them as “dirty nigger lovers.” They, unlike many of their moderate brothers, have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful “action” antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.”

Shamefully, very few White residents publicly supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which is possibly why it took a year to have effect. For today’s boycotts and protests, WE NEED EVERYBODY TO JOIN IN! This administration, billionaires and complicit corporations are on one side, and EVERYONE ELSE IS ON THE OTHER.  

It’s time for all of us to step up and do this action. No one will hit us with clubs, spray us with fire hoses, or set dogs on us.

All anyone has to do is NOT SHOP AT TARGET again until after April 17th. 40 days is long enough to make a serious impression on Target, if WE DO IT!

Videos: 
– https://www.facebook.com/reel/1275204693784841
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUX2CsjJ4qU

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