Target ending DEI initiatives amid Trump's order on diversity programs

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By Reuters
January 24, 20253:12 PM ESTUpdated 43 min ago





People shopping on Black Friday in Wheaton, Maryland

People shop on Black Friday near a Target and the Westfield Wheaton mall in Wheaton Maryland, U.S., November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo


Jan 24 (Reuters) - Target (TGT.N)
, opens new tab is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion program along with other equity initiatives, the retailer said on Friday, becoming the latest U.S. firm to pull back these policies, meant to boost racial and ethnic representation at workplaces.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, encouraging private companies to do the same.

Companies have been focused on the diversity of their workforce for decades, but contemporary DEI initiatives took off after nationwide protests in 2020 over police shootings of unarmed Black people.
Over the last year, however, several major companies, including Walmart (WMT.N)
, opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab, and Meta (META.O)
, opens new tab, walked back their DEI policies in the face of public pressure and after the November election victory by Trump, who has long criticized DEI initiatives.

"Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy," Target's chief community impact and equity officer Kiera Fernandez said in a memo, adding that it was important to stay in step with the "evolving" external landscape.
Target said on Friday it was rolling back programs aimed at promoting racial equity, called the Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives, this year.

In 2022, the company pledged it would invest more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025 as part of its REACH goals.
The initiative also included plans to add more than 500 Black-owned brands and a funding program from its in-house media company, Roundel, to increase exposure of diverse-owned brands through paid media.
The retailer added that it was changing its "Supplier Diversity" team to "Supplier Engagement" in a bid to better reflect "its inclusive global procurement process."

At a retail conference in New York this month, Target's CEO Brian Cornell said the company's growth over the past years came down to investing in people and creating a culture of care and growth.
The company cited an internal survey to showcase its people-led culture, saying it showed that "seven out of 10 people feel cared for as a person, not as an employee (of Target)."
"In retail, we have a chance to change lives," Cornell said at a keynote session at the National Retail Federation Conference.

Late last year, bigger rival Walmart said it was cutting some of its DEI initiatives too.
In contrast, on Thursday, Costco Wholesale COST.O shareholders voted strongly against a proposal requesting a report on the risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Minneapolis-based Target has landed in the cross hairs of conservative backlash in the past.
In 2023, Target pulled some LGBTQ-themed merchandise from stores, citing increased confrontations between shoppers and employees, and incidents of products being thrown on the floor.
The company has sold LGBTQ-related goods tied to Pride month for years but has faced growing criticism for carrying those products, including from conservative news outlets and Republican politicians, who have claimed certain items at its stores were marketed to children.
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Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru and Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Alan Barona
 
It's kind of wild to actually see a American right wing that is willing to actually wield power on cultural issues. I was really worried after the shit that went down regarding H-1Bs around Christmas, but it looks like Trump actually learned his lesson from the first term.
Private companies aren't even being forced to change their policies, but they are proactively getting rid of this garbage. You really can just do things.
 
Major X to doubt. You'd know if they were serious because the screeching of Social Justice retards would be heard from everywhere. Louder than usual anyway and post on how they have to find a regular-ass job.

If anything they'll just pretend to 'remove' DEI and just try and hide it even harder.
 
I live in the whitest city in the country and every fucking Santa in every major store is black. Every. Fucking. One. I feel like buying up every single one and burning them in the parking lot.

Please DM me your location for my retirement plans.

Let's all be honest here, this DEI shit was just affirmative action 2.0 and anyone who recalls/read how that shit went can recall the disaster it was. More importantly DEI was either going to turn the country in Zimbabwe or it was going to run it's course till even the people who didn't even care about politics at all were so offended they wanted it over with.

I blame George Floyd. I didn't get a say in this but, somehow society deemed his overdosing on drugs he ingested so offensive we had to rework the entire social structure to accommodate the retarded niggers. Years later it's clear things for the black community just got worse as they now felt righteously justified and entitled to act like useless fucking niggers in ANY social interaction, leading to more arrests and polarizing people who had no personal views to dislike niggers and DEI. They could have exploited DEI shit for at least another decade had they used it when it was an important situation. You got caught stealing shit from Walmart, that's on you, not the security for noticing you do it.
 
My wife and I bought two nigger versions and gave one to my sister. Sadly, this required us to give money to Target, but it was worth it for the memes.
dang i wish I would have gotten one now just for a funny display
 
I don’t know if it’s DEI was the reason for Minneapolis to lose so much money. I’m pretty sure it’s weak policing and the fact that stores aren’t allowed to just shoot joggers when they steal from them.

Both. Target is run by stupid fuckers and like half the police force left over the past 8 years.
 
Target has been sued for allegedly concealing the risks of its diversity and social initiatives, leading to a backlash that caused customers to flee and the stock price of the Minneapolis-based retailer to plummet.
I'm honestly SHOCKED it took this long. Remember when they would let ANY man into the womans restroom?
You could be a joe rogan looking motherfucker and they wouldn't do shit if you said you "identified" as female. There were PLENTY of men confirming this around I think 2016 or so? just asking staff "may I use the femlae restroom" while fully dressed up as a normal man and the staff saying "if you identify as female, yes"
 
My wife and I bought two nigger versions and gave one to my sister. Sadly, this required us to give money to Target, but it was worth it for the memes.
I wanted to buy more and leave them around various businesses in and bars in July but didn’t pick up enough. Now I just want to hold onto them and allow them to accumulate value. It was only 5 bucks so I imagine in 3 years they will be at least 8 dollars.
 
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