Dr. Jamal Bryant of Atlanta-area New Birth Missionary Baptist Church announced Wednesday, March 11, that the faith-based “Target Fast” campaign he launched during Lent 2025 has ended. Target had made progress on three of the four demands Bryant and other leaders have asked for, leaving one unresolved. Now, the pastor says this particular fight has concluded.
“The Target fast entity, which is the faith-based initiative, is claiming victory and giving God glory for what it is that we have done,” Bryant said at a press conference in Washington, D.C. “We are effectively, today, closing this chapter because we have other fights that we’ve got to see and other things that we’ve got to tackle.”
Bryant noted that the campaign against Target has been “an amalgamation of several different movements” and that he was speaking specifically for the “faith-based initiative.”
“But I’m grateful and I give God all of the glory for what it is that he’s been able to do,” said Bryant. “So, thank you for praying with us, marching with us, and standing with us. And stay tuned for the next fight. But this fight, for us, has now reached its conclusion.”
Jamal Bryant Claims ‘Victory’ After ‘Target Fast’
In February 2025, Pastor Jamal Bryant called on the “conscientious Christian community” to participate in a “Target Fast” during Lent, urging believers to stop shopping at the retailer after the company scaled back several diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
RELATED: Pastor Jamal Bryant Urges Christians To Boycott Target During Lent Over DEI Changes
Target had announced in January 2025 that it would conclude its three-year DEI goals and its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives. It also said it would stop participating in external diversity surveys such as the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and would rebrand its Supplier Diversity team as Supplier Engagement.
Bryant said the move represented a betrayal by a company that had previously pledged to invest $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025. The pastor said Wednesday, “Why did we pick Target first? And the answer to that resoundingly is Target is the only one we invited to the cookout.”
The Target Fast campaign sought to mobilize Christians nationwide. Organizers promoted hundreds of Black-owned businesses as alternatives to Target and outlined four demands the company would need to meet for the fast to end: honoring the $2 billion investment pledge, reaffirming its commitment to DEI, investing $250 million in Black-owned banks, and supporting retail-training pipeline centers at 10 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
