As corporate DEI efforts held up as turning points during 2020's summer of unrest vanish in the face of political pressure, Black community leaders are responding with their wallets.

Why it matters: For them, this moment is about proving that Black economic power isn't dependent on corporate permission.

Driving the news: With companies rolling back DEI initiatives under conservative pressure, the NAACP urges Black consumers to support brands that remain committed.

• The civil rights group is tracking which companies honor their promises—and which don't — as calls for economic resistance grow.

The latest: Target's move away from its post-George Floyd DEI promises, which mirrors a broader trend in corporate America, has sparked backlash. That includes a planned boycott led by Jamal Bryant, pastor of the prominent megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist in metro Atlanta.

• Bryant told Axios he's calling on the community to boycott Target during the Christian season of Lent, which begins March 5 and lasts 40 days. Bryant told Axios he chose Target for two reasons:
• He says Black people spend $12 million a day at the giant retailer, and it's headquartered in Minneapolis, where Floyd was murdered in 2020 by police officer Derek Chauvin.
• In April 2021, Target pledged to invest $2 billion into black businesses by the end of 2025.
• Bryant has a goal of 100,000 people pledging to boycott Target, and he says he's already gotten more than half of that.

The big picture: The pastor points to recent revenue loss due to McDonald's and Starbucks boycotts as examples of how the Target campaign can succeed.

• "So you're seeing a great awakening in America, and corporate communities are going to have to really show their responsibility," he said.

The big picture: Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, director of the Center for Employment Equity at the University of Massachusetts, tells Axios the unprecedented scale of the 2020 protests catalyzed corporate action.

• "Roughly half of the Fortune 500 made racial justice commitments — some symbolic, but others deeply structural, tying executive accountability and supply chains to equity goals," he said.
• "The summer of 2020 scared a lot of people. The largest mass protests in U.S. history, including white communities, made people feel threatened. This backlash — targeting DEI initiatives and corporations — is a direct response to that."

Yes, but: For Carlton Mackey and other Black entrepreneurs, it's also forcing a reckoning: If big brands won't back them, they have to double down on their community. That shift — from relying on corporate DEI programs to embracing Black economic independence — is where resistance becomes revolution.

Flashback: Mackey, the founder of the Black Men Smile movement that began in the fall of 2014, confronts stereotypes and misconceptions about Black men.

• Mackey's recent message, "Black Joy is Revolutionary," resonated so widely that Target included it in its 2023 Black History Month collection. When the Minneapolis-based chain announced its stance on DEI, Mackey told Axios that he was discussing further collaboration with Target but ultimately decided not to proceed.
• Target's retreat from diversity commitments feels like a personal blow, Mackey says, reflecting a broader trend of companies withdrawing support after previous advocacy.
• Mackey felt betrayed by Target's decision and stated that his conscious choice was to stand in solidarity with the movement.
• "It felt like we were in a relationship, and then they said, 'My dad doesn't like you, so I'm breaking up with you,'" he said, adding that continuing the partnership in light of Target's DEI rollback would compromise the integrity of his mission.

The bottom line: Mackey acknowledged that this decision would likely cost him future business with the retailer, but he was willing to take that risk to stand on principle.

• "I don't want to be in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Target, meaning that now that you broke up with me, we're not — no, we can't still be kissing," he said.