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Teachers + TikTok vs. Target
Target’s boycott just hit $500M, with teachers joining and TikTok exposing “ghost stores.” Is this the future of protest power?
Dale Harris
September 09, 2025
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Good morning, BFA Fam! Keep your unemployed friends in your thoughts and prayers. For the first time since the pandemic, there are now more Americans looking for work than there are job openings. The government reported Wednesday that openings have fallen to their lowest level since September 2024, a stark sign of a cooling job market.
MAIN STORY
🔥 The Future of Protest: Teachers, TikTok, and the $500 Million Target Boycott
⚡ THE SPARK
Target thought it could quietly roll back its diversity promises and shoppers wouldn’t notice. Instead, it’s staring down a $12 billion loss, a CEO shakeup, and now a viral TikTok exposing “ghost stores” built to dodge the boycott. Add in teachers’ unions and Black faith leaders pushing back, and you’ve got something bigger than one retailer’s misstep, it’s a battle over who really holds the power: corporate boardrooms or the communities that built them.
🧠 THE LAYER BELOW
Boycotts used to mean picket lines. Now it’s TikTok videos racking up millions of views and shaping national narratives overnight.
The AFT and Chicago Teachers Union bring nearly 2 million workers into the fight, this isn’t just consumers, it’s organized labor.
Pastor Jamal Bryant calls it the first real flex of Black economic power in 70 years, a direct echo of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Target’s $2B pledge to Black businesses? Still shrouded in secrecy, with little proof it ever reached the community it was meant for.
Once-loyal shoppers say walking away freed them from Target’s “$100 trip that turns into $300”, what begins as protest often becomes permanent habit.
Corporate America is watching. If Target caves, it sets a precedent. If it holds out, it risks bleeding both dollars and cultural trust.
🎯 THE REAL QUESTION
Is DEI a moral commitment, or just another marketing strategy that can be scrapped when politics shift?
🔮 WHAT’S NEXT
This moment is about more than Target, it’s about proving that collective action still works in an era where institutions feel untouchable. The unions, the pastors, and the TikTok sleuths aren’t just fighting for receipts on a $2B pledge, they’re reminding corporate America that loyalty is a two-way street.
Boycotts in 2025 look different than in 1955, but the energy is the same: dignity, power, and accountability. Whether Target bends or breaks, one truth is clear, Black economic strength isn’t theoretical. It’s real, it’s organized, and it’s just getting started.
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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television | Official Trailer
Issa Rae is shining a light on the past, present, and future of Black storytelling on screen with her new HBO documentary Seen and Heard: The History of Black Television. Featuring icons like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Shonda Rhimes, the two-part series explores how Black creators reshaped TV while battling barriers—and why authentic representation both on-screen and behind the camera “makes such a difference.”
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