Tabitha Brown warns boycotting Target could hurt Black & Minority Businesses

Beloved content creator Tabitha Brown, who has a collaboration with Target, has released a statement following the retailer’s roll back of DEI initiatives.

Tabitha Brown’s collaboration with Target

In 2022, Brown released four limited-time Target collections comprised of clothing, swimwear, office decor, accessories, kitchenware, food and entertaining essentials. Her newest collaboration focuses on five main categories: grocery, gifting essentials, stationary, kitchen and home decor.

Video Statement on Target rolling back DEI initiatives and programs

In a video posted to her social media platforms on Saturday, Jan. 25, Brown said, “As disheartening as it is for me, I’m not the only one affected by this. It’s for everyone who is a woman-owned business, minority-owned business, and Black-owned business. It’s for so many of us who have worked so very hard to be placed into retail—to finally be seen and [have] a proof of retail because, contrary to whatever the world might tell you, it has been very hard for Black-owned businesses to hit shelves. Which is why it’s such a big deal when we do, and finally land inside of retail. So, it is definitely heartbreaking to feel unsupported.”

Brown continued to speak on the DEI rollbacks adding that she understands the desire to boycott.

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A post shared by Tabitha Brown (@iamtabithabrown)

“However, I am in business in multiple ways: with Target, with Walmart, and Amazon. I sell Donna’s Recipe, my haircare products on Amazon and in Target, and of course, I have a huge partnership with Target. I sell my seasonings at Walmart. I do business all over. Just like many other people. And what I can tell you is, if we all decide to boycott and be like, ‘No, we’re not spending no money at these organizations,’ listen I get it. And if that’s how you feel, honey, I one thousand percent get it.”

She warned boycotting can hurt Black-owned and minority-owned businesses

While Brown understands the community’s frustrations, she warned boycotting Target can actually cause more harm to Black and minority-owned business owners.

“But, so many of us would be affected. Our sales would drop and our businesses would be hurt. And if any of you know business, it doesn’t just happen overnight—where you can just go take all your stuff and pull it off the shelves. There’s a process. And then, where are you gonna put it? You gotta have a place to store it, and that’s money. Then, you gotta have another place to sell it. Which is almost impossible sometimes. And even if you sell online, it’s a process when it comes to business. And everyone does not have the funds or the means or the availability or the space to house their own products.”

“The thing that concerns me the most—and I want you to hear me and hear me well—if we all decide to stop supporting said businesses and say, ‘I can’t buy nothing from there,’ the business who were affected by the DEI ban, what that does is you take all of our sales and they dwindle down.”