A version of this article first appeared in People’s World. Authorial and editorial changes and updates have been made. Opinions expressed in Washington Socialist do not necessarily reflect the position of Metro DC DSA.
SINCE THE TRUMP 2.0 INAUGURATION, major corporations have capitulated and cooperated with his administration’s reactionary agenda to roll back all of the gains of the Black freedom movement, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, accessibility rights, immigrant rights, etc. Early examples included Meta (formerly known as Facebook) dropping its fact-checking arm and hiring pro-MAGA figures like Dana White of the UFC to sit on its board of directors. Further, under pressure from pro-MAGA shareholders, many big businesses have gutted their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and offices. This list includes Target, Southwest Airlines, PepsiCo, and more. These companies, which caved early on, have begun to suffer major consequences from boycotts by their consumers, who urged these same corporations to invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) during the George Floyd Rebellion in 2020.
Those boycotts are happening with the backdrop of the extreme government repression on the Palestine solidarity movement, in light of the Trump election and the implementation of the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther. Many solidarity movements expanded their protest efforts to follow the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement’s recommendations which has had a significant impact on big corporations like McDonald’s and Starbucks. Groups like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization, have led municipalities to organize “Apartheid-Free” zones, which will boycott Israeli products. DC for Palestine, a local DC organization, has taken up this effort as of late.
Target, meanwhile, has been a primary target of the Black faith community, with Pastor Jamal Bryant out of Georgia leading the charge. Black progressives like Nina Turner and Tamika Mallory have also led a social media campaign against Target which has garnered a lot of traffic and attention. Also, on February 28, the “People’s Union” led a national economic boycott against Target and other major retailers that have capitulated to the Trump agenda, which spread all across social media on millions of platforms. The Latino Freeze Movement joined the call to boycott Target and other major corporations who have joined the reactionary chorus of attacking African Americans, Latino immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, women, and other oppressed people. This has led to a sharp drop in Target’s Q1 earnings, with share values down $12b, foot traffic cut significantly, and a pay cut in the CEO’s salary.
As of April, Al Sharpton of the National Action Network announced a possible boycott of PepsiCo and gave them a 21-day notice to change their policy before the official boycott is launched. Notably, Coca-Cola has also rebuffed efforts to drop its DEI programs which has some folks in the African American community considering buying their products as an alternative. Since the 21-day period, Sharpton has met with PepsiCo executives and urged them to restore their DEI programs. The two sides continue to meet without any public reports on progress or an official boycott.
Moreover, Elon Musk’s Tesla has hit a major impasse by uniting a large spectrum of political and social forces internationally to boycott Tesla dealerships, cancel government contracts (in Europe), and more. Particularly in the US, the #TeslaTakedown actions have spontaneously risen out of frustration with the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” otherwise known as DOGE. DOGE slashed federal funding for several social programs and grants for research funding as well as mass layoffs of public sector workers. Musk and the Trump administration responded with legal threats to the Tesla Takedown organizers, as well as launching a right-wing social media troll attack against them. These actions against Musk and Tesla led the fascist billionaire to pull out of his public-facing role in the Trump government to focus on his company’s profits. The campaign has now expanded to municipal resolutions urging local governments to drop Tesla stock from state and city pension funds.
And, since the increase in ICE and military activity and raids in areas with large immigrant populations like Los Angeles, particularly targeting Home Depot where day laborers typically look for work, organizations like the Day Laborer Network and Union del Barrio have launched an ICE Out of Home Depot boycott campaign. The founder of Home Depot had previously been a mega-donor to the Republican Party and Donald Trump. And, after pressure from extreme right MAGA forces, the company dropped its DEI initiatives in March of 2025.
On the other hand, companies like Costco rebuffed efforts to drop its DEI programs. This led to mainstream civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton of the National Action Network to organize “buy-cotts” where African Americans were encouraged to shop at Costco since they did not capitulate to the MAGA assault on Black people. An op-ed in People’s World from January 2025, however, stated that the best chance for permanent DEI is to implement it in a union contract. At the time, Costco workers with the Teamsters union demanded fair labor practices from the retail giant and were gearing up to authorize a strike in the middle of Sharpton’s “buy-cott” campaign. Fortunately, there was no issue of the African American community crossing the picket line since Costco finally came to the negotiating table and worked out a new bargaining contract with its workers, avoiding the strike.
Due to the current US-backed Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the BDS movement has garnered much more steam within the United States. Organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and other municipal or state-oriented Palestine solidarity coalitions have led this effort by campaigning against Israel Bonds, getting city councils to pass divestment resolutions, and more.
The BDS movement has a particular strategy that reflects the boycott and divestment movements against apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and ’80s. Their boycott list includes companies that could cause it into sharp contradiction with the African American boycott movement in the United States.
As mentioned above, Coca-Cola has announced that it intends to retain its DEI policies and to not cave to the MAGA assault against it. And in addition, the likelihood of a Sharpton-led boycott against PepsiCo will likely result in large sections of the African American community to buy Coca-Cola products, even though it is on the Palestine BDS list. Similarly, for the case of Costco, which only accepts Visa credit card payments, this may come into conflict with the “buy-cotts”. It is important to note, though, that in response to the ICE terror happening in the country, the Latino community in Texas (in addition to the Latino Freeze Movement) announced a boycott of Coca-Cola for targeting its immigrant employees by calling immigration enforcement on them.
Since the rise of the Palestine BDS movement in the United States (prior to the genocide), several state legislators and municipalities around the country have outlawed BDS trying to tie it to supposed anti-semitism. This has had a larger ripple effect by making it more difficult to organize against corporations engaging in exploitative practices and supporting imperialist war.
The ingredients for unity are there among the African American, Latino, and Arab communities. But, how would a Black Communist respond to this seemingly contradictory situation around DEI?
Economic boycott has a long history in the African American freedom struggle. The Communist Party and its participation in organizations like the National Negro Congress (NNC) staged boycotts of white businesses that refused to hire Black workers leading to campaigns to “not shop where you could not work.” In 1941, the NNC boycotted two New York City private bus companies due to their refusal to hire Black drivers. The boycott was successful because the community showed up – community soup kitchens supported those who needed food, people with cars carpooled with the people without, and donations were collected to use the subway. The transportation union also played a key role by working with the Black community to stop the use of Black workers as strikebreakers and promised to consider membership applications from every Black worker hired. This boycott took place for approximately a month and led to the launch of Adam Clayton Powell’s political career in the New York City Council.
More well known is the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., following Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat for a white rider. Similar to the New York boycott from the early ’40s, boycotters organized carpools and were supported by Black taxi drivers who charged a fare equal to the bus fare. The campaign lasted for a year until a federal court ruling declared that bus segregation was unconstitutional. This action gave King national prominence and gave more attention to the burgeoning civil rights movement, which would gain much steam in the 1960s.
In the 1980s, Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH launched boycotts of the CBS television affiliates, Coca-Cola, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Anheuser Busch. These boycotts took place during the fight for affirmative action and the lack of diversity in these workplaces and on their board of directors. Jackson and PUSH gained major victories which included Coca-Cola donating over $34 million to Black businesses and hiring more Black workers. In the CBS case, Jackson demanded the network hire more African Americans for management and on-air positions and to increase contracting from minority-owned businesses.
People’s movements need to build mass coalitions with labor unions, faith communities, and solidarity organizations to work through all the contradictions of participating in a sustained boycott. Reflecting on the successes of the Black freedom movement, consistency, unity, and solidarity are the most important components for a successful boycott.
Communities can find ways to act in unison when they might, at first glance, appear divided. For example, many of the big businesses that implemented DEI programs during 2020 also participated in union busting and other exploitative practices. Now that DEI initiatives are being rolled back, consumer boycotts and the labor movement could be aligned. International and national labor unions and affiliated organizations can pass resolutions at their conventions and in their locals to support boycotts. For example, the Teamsters in Texas launched a boycott of Molson Coors, to force the employer to negotiate for a fair union contract. The same goes for UNITE HERE Local 25 in Washington, DC launching a boycott of Starr Restaurants due to the owner’s refusal to recognize their union. Understanding the centrality of the fight against racism in the general struggle for democracy and socialism is important, and we need to keep an eye on and develop deeper ties with labor-affiliated organizations that represent African American workers like the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists as well as build deep ties with African American trade union leaders like April Verrett of SEIU.
So, whether your neighbors are picketing in front of a Target or a Tesla dealership, join them and offer a helping hand in widening the net of influence and consciousness among the community. Strengthening a boycott means organizing a mass coalition and also getting organized labor to take a strong stance and support the efforts of the community.
