Press Releases

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, Chairwoman Yvette D. Clarke and members of the Congressional Black Caucus Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce met with Target Corporation Chair and CEO Brian Cornell to address the company’s reversal on its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The meeting comes amid growing public scrutiny and mounting consumer boycotts of Target, driven by outrage over the company’s rollback of its diversity policies—with particular focus on its commitments to support Black-owned businesses.   

In the candid and direct conversation, members of the Congressional Black Caucus repeatedly pressed Target’s leadership for clear answers on the consequences of the company’s decision to scale back its diversity initiatives. The CBC directly questioned the Target leadership on the demands of the “Target Fast,”—a national campaign led by a broad coalition of activists urging consumers to redirect their resources to companies that uphold our values. 

In addition to highlighting the significant financial toll Target has already taken due to its failure to uphold its commitments to diversity, the Caucus warned that efforts to restore consumer and public trust without genuine action and accountability would risk inflicting lasting damage to the company’s brand and credibility. 

In addition to demands made by the “Target Fast” coalition, the CBC urged the Target leadership to immediately take the following steps, and awaits their timely response and action: 

1. In a public forum, recommit the company to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion
2. Reinstate Target’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that were eliminated or rolled back
3. Update the CBC on the status of the financial investments and other policies that were pledged publicly
4. Disclose the makeup of Targets workforce diversity, business supplier diversity, and community investment

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette D. Clarke offered the following quote:

“The Congressional Black Caucus met with the leadership of the Target Corporation on Capitol Hill to directly address deep concerns about the impact of the company’s unconscionable decision to end a number of its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Like many of the coalition leaders and partner organizations that have chosen to boycott their stores across the country, we found that the explanations offered by the leadership of the Target Corporation fell woefully short of what our communities deserve and of the values of inclusion that Target once touted. Black consumers contribute overwhelmingly to our economy and to the Target Corporation’s bottom line. Our communities deserve to shop at businesses that publicly share our values without sacrificing our dignity. It is no longer acceptable to deliver promises to our communities in private without also demonstrating those values publicly.” 

CBC Members in attendance: 

• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus
• Rep. Troy A. Carter, Sr., CBC First Vice Chair
• Rep. Steven Horsford, CBC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce 
• Rep. Bobby Scott, CBC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce

Members of the Target Corporation in attendance: 

• Brian Cornell, Chair and CEO
• Kiera Fernandez, Executive Vice President and Chief Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer
• Isaac Reyes, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
• Chanell Autrey, Director, Government Affairs

Background  

On September 9, 2024, the Congressional Black Caucus, under the chairmanship of Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04), released its corporate accountability report, “What Good Looks Like: A Corporate Accountability Report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” This first-of-its-kind report holds Fortune 500 companies across all industries accountable for their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments, as well as their investments in racial equity in the critical years following the murder of George Floyd. 

The report found that the majority of Fortune 500 companies that responded to a survey by the CBC remain committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace despite right wing attacks in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in the landmark Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in June 2023. 

The report outlined 12 Best Practices and innovative approaches (or “What Good Looks Like”), taken by companies across various industries to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplaces and beyond, which the CBC hopes corporations will use as a standardized tool to strengthen, magnify, and expand diversity, equity, and inclusion practices across industries. 

Since the release of the report, a number of corporations have taken several steps in the opposite direction under the pressure and public attacks of conservative activists.