Emboldened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down affirmative action in college admissions, a growing number of prominent companies—including Meta, Target, Amazon, McDonald’s, Walmart, Ford, and Lowe’s—have scaled back or abandoned their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Many of these programs were originally adopted following the widespread protests that erupted after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in 2020.
However, over the past year, conservative activists have sparked a heated national debate increasingly targeting workplace diversity efforts through legal challenges and social media campaigns, focusing on corporate sponsorships, employee-led affinity groups, and hiring practices aimed at historically marginalized communities. And on the day of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs while encouraging private companies to do the same.
In response to this growing opposition, the National Action Network (NAN) has launched a renewed efforts zeroing in on some of these companies to confront the rollback of DEI.
Rev. Al Sharpton stood before a crowd at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., his voice resolute as he announced the initiative during the National Action Network’s (NAN) MLK Day Rally. The civil rights leader and founder of NAN declared that the organization, alongside its partners, would identify two companies within the next 90 days to be boycotted for abandoning their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The announcement came amidst a heated national debate, as President Trump, recently sworn into office for his second term, began dismantling federal DEI programs, a move Sharpton vowed to counter.
“Donald Trump can cut federal DEI programs to the bone; he can claw back federal money to expand diversity, but he cannot tell us where to spend our dollars,” Sharpton proclaimed to the impassioned audience. Determined to protect the progress hard-earned over years of advocacy, he warned corporations that reneging on promises to adopt inclusive practices or sidelining marginalized communities would not go unnoticed. “Black buying power is a force to be reckoned with,” he added. “That’s why, in the next 90 days, we will send a message loud and clear—we will not go back, and we will use our power to hit their bottom line.”
The rally came as Trump escalated his efforts to stymie DEI-related work, ordering federal DEI staff placed on paid leave and mandating plans to shrink DEI programs across government agencies by the month’s end. Furthermore, the Justice Department was tasked with pressuring private companies and federally funded educational institutions to roll back their diversity initiatives. These actions capped months of aggressive opposition to DEI, a campaign Sharpton had been battling since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education the previous year.
Sharpton’s announcement of NAN’s new council to target companies represented the next phase in holding the corporate world accountable. After billions of dollars were pledged to DEI efforts in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many companies had begun quietly retreating from their commitments. NAN’s initiative aims to confront these regressions directly, leveraging the $1.7 trillion in anticipated Black buying power over the next five years as an undeniable force. While figures like hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman seek to dismantle DEI programs, business leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have underscored the economic benefits of diversity. With the coming boycott, Sharpton and NAN intend to make the stakes clear and emphasize that abandoning DEI is not just a moral failure but a costly economic mistake.
Ironically, attempts to eliminate DEI initiatives may prove more challenging than anticipated. According to experts, dismantling diversity and equity policies could unintentionally lead companies to violate anti-discrimination laws, thereby inviting increased scrutiny from employees and their legal representatives. Common corporate practices under the DEI framework—such as auditing pay disparities, mandating diverse candidate pools, and promoting fairness in advancement opportunities—are critical for ensuring compliance with state and federal workplace discrimination laws.
“When companies face lawsuits from women or people of color and are found liable for discrimination, neither the Trump administration nor any executive order can shield them,” Jason Solomon, director of the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, a progressive think tank told Reuters News.
With boycotts and unwavering advocacy, Sharpton and the National Action Network aim to demonstrate that the fight for equity is far from over.