WHO KNEW THAT HAVING EMPATHY WOULD GET ME CALLED A DICK SUCKER?

Here are the four main reasons I've balked at the calls to boycott Walmart & Target.

SOURCE: My DMs.

For those of you who are new here: My name is KJ Kearney. And in addition to running the award-winning social media account, Black Food Fridays, I work as a community engagement manager for a non-profit organization that provides wrap-around services for Title 1 elementary schools. While I do some work within the schools we support, my main gig requires me to be out in these streets! When people ask what I do for work, I tell them “I get paid to be nosey”. It’s a great conversation starter but, what it really means is that I attend lots of meetings. School board, neighborhood association, transit-oriented design, council of governments, city council, you get the point. If there is information being given, that could have an impact on the predominately Black communities we work in, I try my best to be in attendance.

And that’s before you factor that, for the last four years, I have been screaming from the proverbial mountain tops for all Americas to buy Black food, from Black people, on Fridays. And for the most part that has been working for me. But for whatever reason, I decided that in 2025, instead of just going with the content creation flow, I was going to attempt to have nuanced conversations about issues in Black food. I wanted my day job and my online work to be more intertwined.

The results have been pretty predictable. If people like what I’m saying, they leave comments about how I’m a such benefit to the community. When they don’t like what I say, like my “Hold up, wait a minute!” stance on these calls for corporate boycotts, I get called all manner of names. Coon, double agent, FBI informant, and my favorite insult of them all—a “good slave” who has “the white man’s Johnson so far down my throat”. Yes, someone took time out of their day to type that out and press “send”.

deep sigh

Can I be honest? At first, I did NOT handle all this name calling well. When I started writing this week’s newsletter, most of my sentences dripped with vitriol and an unnecessary amount of capitalized words. I mean, a lot of capitalized words! But when I read what I had written, I was…disappointed. I pride myself on being fairly logical and even keeled. What I wrote was anything but. Once I realized that, I made the decision to delete everything and start over. What follows is a simplified, sanitized version explaining the four major reasons why I’m not on board with the boycotts.

Before we get into the particulars, I want to state clearly that this is NOT going to be a missive asking you to refrain from boycotting. If that’s what you want to do, go for it. I’m only here to make plain my reasons for abstaining at this present time. After reading this, if you find that you disagree, that’s cool. You can even let me know so in the comments. But please watch your mouth and don’t type some shit you wouldn’t say to me directly.

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REASON 1: IT FEELS TOO SELECTIVE.

SOURCE: The Boston Globe

The calls to boycott Walmart and Target ring hollow (to me) because they are suspiciously selective. Because from what I’ve seen, we don’t have the same energy for all the corporations who have pulled back from the DEI table. While the news of Walmart and Target have made the most waves, they are far from the only corporations rescinding their public commitments to diversity. McDonalds, Meta, Amazon, Ford Motors, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and John Deere are just a few names of companies that have made the decision to divest.

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen photos of Donald’s Inauguration VIP section. Outside of the founders of Meta and Amazon, I saw the CEO of Alphabet (aka the company that owns Google & YouTube) Sundar Pichai, and South Africa’s most famous immigrant, Elon Musk. Yet, at least on my timeline, I haven’t seen any Black person suggesting that we delete Instagram, Threads, or WhatsApp. Nor have I seen any talk of dropping Amazon Prime en masse or for us to avoid shopping at Whole Foods. And when Black people (because it’s not just me) have asked us to consider the affects a Walmart or Target ban would have on those who can’t pivot as easily as you, we’ve been considered enemies of the Black State which…ok, I guess?

You can just drive to the other side of town because you have reliable transportation. You can avoid the closest grocery option to you because you have the income to do so. But the reality is way more people than you realize can’t. Instead hearing this and showing compassion, some of y’all have doubled-down. A boycott that is unwilling to show empathy to those whose lives can’t accommodate a sudden shift in where they shop, because the internet said so, is destined to fail. I’m not volunteering to be associated with that classist action.

REASON 2: THE MATH AIN’T MATHING.

I don’t know about you but at no point have I seen anyone bring data to these discussions. No figures, real or estimated, about how much money Black businesses stand to lose after these DEI rollbacks. No data on how many Black employees could be affected by these boycotts. Nothing. As an organizer, this lack of data makes my ass itch. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to introduce some numbers to the discourse.

According to their website, as of January of last year, Walmart had 4,615 stores in the United States. Target has less than half that with only 1,956 stores in the United States (I say “only” like damn near 2000 stores ain’t a lot). And it’s not just cheap prices on food and clothing and televisions that keep people coming back. Walmart is also one of this countries most accessible pharmacies, ranking third in total size, reaching 85% of all American households. Target, whose pharmacy program is ran by CVS—the largest pharmacy in the United States—has over 1,800 in-store pharmacies. Has anyone calling for these boycotts though about how Mr. Jenkins is supposed to get his Lotensin if he doesn’t go to Walmart? And even if there are other pharmacies, have you seen anyone volunteering to help Senior Citizens switch to “approved” locations? Because I haven’t.

Not to mention, Black people make up a surprisingly small percentage of each store’s customer demographics. At Walmart, about 12% of their shoppers are Black (as compared to 70% white) and at Target it’s even less, coming it at about 9%. To be clear, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask them to do better! But with such a small financial impact on these stores, we should at least strive to be more strategic than we’ve been. Which leads to my third point…

REASON 3: THERE IS NO PLAN.

SOURCE: Giphy

One of the first rebuttals I get from the pro-boycott crowd is to “Remember Montgomery” as an example of how a boycott can facilitate change. My argument isn’t that boycotts don’t work. My argument is that this boycott won’t work. Furthermore, I think it’s disrespectful to mention Montgomery without understanding all the behind-the-scenes work it took to make that happen. For one, unlike us, they were organized. The Montgomery Improvement Association was created in 1955, after the arrest of Rosa Parks, to protest the mistreatment of Blacks on the bus system as well as its segregated configuration. According to the King Institute at Stanford University, here’s how everything started:

“Following the arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955 for failing to vacate her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women’s Political Council and E. D. Nixon launched plans for a one-day boycott of Montgomery buses on 5 December. A planning meeting was held in King’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on 2 December. Ninety percent of the Black community stayed off the buses on 5 December, prompting calls for boycott leaders to harness the momentum into a larger protest campaign. At a meeting held at Mt. Zion AME Church on the afternoon of 5 December, Montgomery’s Black leaders established the MIA to oversee the continuation and maintenance of the boycott and elected King, a young minister new to Montgomery, as its chairman.

This is literally the fight that put Martin on the map! Yet over the past week, I’ve watched as person after person acts like some random Instagram posts can compare to the sustained level of work these Black men and women put in. As you read, they started small, it worked out, and then they scaled. And because they met with the community, and kept meeting, they were able to hear about the needs of the people and create plans to satisfy those needs. For instance, they provided carpools so people could still get to work. Woman like Georgia Gilmore, and her Club From Nowhere, would sell soul food plates to help drivers pay for gas to literally keep the wheels of the movement rolling along. When I asked y’all to consider this, I was literally told that I have a white man’s penis in my throat.

I don’t know exactly when these Walmart/Target boycotts started, I don’t know who’s in charge, who’s trying (if anyone) to convene meetings with the C-Suite management of these companies, or how long y’all expect this to last. But most importantly, I don’t understand what y’all are actually trying to accomplish with this. Which is a perfect segue into my last reason…

REASON 4: THERE IS NO LIST OF DEMANDS.

Source: discogs.com

Who creates a boycott without also creating a list of demands? Unlike us, the Montgomery Improvement Association knew better. They demanded the following: “Courteous treatment by bus operators; first-come, first-served seating for all, with Blacks seating from the rear and whites from the front; and Black bus operators on predominately Black routes.” Not only did this put the powers-that-be on notice, it gave Black people (and their allies) a tangible goal to work towards. I’m sure that there were days that this sucked ass but having a stated goal gave everyone something to focus on. That focus allowed them to maintain their boycott for an entire year!

As it relates to Walmart and Target, I honestly don’t know what y’all hope to accomplish. If the goal is to financially hurt them, cool! Walmart had revenue of $648 billion dollars last year while Target raked in $107 billion. I feel like that means we need an extra coordinated attack to make an impact, should that be the route we decide to go. If the goal is to make sure Black-owned brands remain on the shelves, great! Do we have a number for the amount of brands we want to see on shelves or maybe a total amount of money you’d like to see spent on the procurement Black-owned businesses (say, Fifteen Percent)? Whatever it is, it needs to be expressed so that we are playing from the same sheet of music AND so that these corporations know what we’re holding them accountable for.

If we don’t strategize for success, this “boycott” will be nothing more than yesterday’s spilled milk to them. These major corporations are gonna be alright. They’ll just drop Ghetto Gastro Bop Tarts, add yet another flavor of Pop-Tarts, and keep it moving. Meanwhile, we’ll have to step over the scattered husks of the defunct Black-owned businesses that meet their demise from this unseasoned attempt at collective organizing. If we gonna do it, let’s have a plan and a list of demands. If not, I’ll stay out the way while y’all do whatever it is y’all gonna do.

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SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

I don’t want to end on a negative note. Let’s close this out with three things that can be done to give these boycotts a fighting chance, in my unsolicited opinion:

• Speak with stakeholders. Talk with the Black hourly employees, Black Senior Citizens that rely on these places for food or medicine, Black-owned vendors, Black suburban moms, pretty much anyone who identifies as Black and has a vested interested in these stores. If not across the nation then, at least, in the city you’re in. If you want people to participate, you must keep them informed. Tell them the good that can come from this but also be willing to explain how you’ll be there to support them if things turn sour.

• Create actual alternatives. Don’t just say dismissive shit like, “You don’t have to shop at Walmart or Target, you can just go to a farmer’s market or flea market to get your fruits and veggies” because while that’s may be true for you, it might not be true for your neighbor. Furthermore, if you create the boycott, then you are responsible for creating (more accurately, co-creating with stakeholders) the solutions for people who want to be down, but can’t. Transportation, fixed incomes, and medical prescriptions are just some of the issues you’ll need to consider and help people find alternatives for. Not down the road—now! You want them to boycott today, right? Because at the end of the day, no matter how you feel about Wally World, Ms. Alma needs her speciality medication or she will die. So if you tell her to leave the place she knows it’s stocked, you should help her find replacement retailers.

• Make a list of demands. Last but not least, people need to know why they are doing this. A clearly defined, stakeholder informed, list of demands allows everyone to work towards the same goals and lets corporations know what we’re looking for, in terms of restitution. It creates consensus through buy-in and shared outcomes. You’ll need that if you’re going to take down one of the largest companies in the country.

In conclusion, know that just because we may disagree on how (or if) this is done, bask in the knowledge that we all want the same thing: for Black people to survive and thrive. I personally don’t think people are going to care about this once Black History Month is over but I look forward to being pleasantly surprised. If you know of any organizations or individuals who do have a plan, please link to them in the comments. I’d love to see how different groups are handling this big tasks. Not only that, it could provide a helpful blueprint for others to follow.

» KJ «