At Southfield Target, protesters call for boycott after retailer rolls back DEI

Yahoo

12-04-2025

About 50 protesters spent Saturday afternoon outside of a Target store in Southfield, protesting the retailer for rolling back its DEI initiatives and encouraging would-be shoppers to join their boycott.
"We're here to make good trouble," said Dale Milford, an organizer and associate minister at Nardin Park United Methodist Church.
Milford said he and his congregation have sought to refrain from shopping at Target during Lent, while others present at the demonstration are engaged in an outright, nonreligious boycott. Milford is among many participating in a nationwide protest movement against Target.
In January, Target was one of several American companies that backtracked on their DEI initiatives amid federal pressure from the Trump administration to end what President Donald Trump called "illegal DEI discrimination and preferences."
To Milford, standing with DEI "is not about being woke; it's a movement to overcome discrimination."
Kai Paige, the co-chair of the Fems for Dems Political Action Committee, said she was at the demonstration to stand up for DEI, and to stand up specifically for Black women.
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"Black women make up only 4% of executive leadership," Paige said. "I mean, come on. They use us all the time for DEI brochures, but when it's time to promote us, they overlook us."
For much of the protest, advocates stood on the grass near Southfield Road, taking turns speaking through a microphone. Doctors, religious leaders and protest organizers encouraged the crowd to use the power of their dollar as a means of protest.
Melodie Knappe, a 21-year-old student at Wayne State University and vice president of WSU's Disability Justice Coalition, said direct action in the form of boycotts is key to making their voices heard.
"I'm putting my money where my mouth is," Knappe said. "I cannot support any corporation so apathetic it would turn its back on the values it once championed."
Knappe, who is disabled, told the Free Press that her goal is not to just dissuade shoppers in Southfield for an afternoon — the goal is to be heard by Target executives.
"This is not about the individuals, this is about the 1% at the top. We want to show them: This is what the bottom looks like," she said, gesturing toward the crowd of protesters.
Among them was Patricia Coleman-Burns, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor, who incited a 1966 speech from Martin Luther King Jr.
"King said ... 'Don't sleep through the revolution,' " Coleman-Burns said. "What's important is that these people understand their own power — that we not sleep through the revolution. We're in it."
After the speeches, organizers said they would move closer to the store and stand in front of the doors, encouraging people entering the store to reconsider their choice to shop at Target. The protesters walked from the street across the parking lot and up to the front doors. Others placed magnetic signs on their cars that read "BOYCOTT TARGET" and drove around the parking lot.
The protesters at the front door were quickly asked to leave by Target staff, who indicated they would call the police. Protesters asked the staff on scene for phone numbers of managers and executives but were denied. After about 20 minutes, the protesters dispersed from the parking lot while several Target employees lined the path leading to Target's doors.
Media representatives at Target did not return phone call requests for comment.
Contact Liam Rappleye: [e-mail]
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Target rolls back DEI programs, and metro Detroiters boycott