There are precious few checks on executives in a massive corporation. Despite the fact that the legal duty is 100% clear that both the Board of Directors and executives have a fiduciary duty to put the health of the corporation first, both tend to act as though they are the corporation’s owners and only interest. Obviously, they are more akin to a constitutional government, where the Board is Congress, the Executives are the presidency, and the shareholders, dispersed and diffuse, are the citizens that actually “own” the company. But there is one check on both, they are called “shareholder derivative suits” and they can be brought by someone who owns only one single share of stock in the company, and those suits center around an accusation of negligence or neglect of that fiduciary duty, that impacted shareholders. Now, we see Target, whose executives dropped all DEI initiatives, sued for that decision, as being obviously stupid in light of the obvious coming consequences.
From Yahoo Finance, we have a report regarding the decision itself and why Target went forward anyway:
Last month, Target joined major corporations across the country who have been rolling back diversity initiatives in the wake of President Donald Trump taking power. The company also issued a memo that said it would end its Racial Equity Action and Change program and will be “stopping all external diversity-focused surveys including HRC’s Corporate Equality index,” the Advocate reports.
It is a bit strange. Without a doubt, whether it was Disney in Florida, or even the NFL, the major corporations were far more liberal than conservative. Again, no doubt, it is not like these companies have a conscience (Though it is not mutually exclusive, some actually could have a conscience, we shouldn’t be so cynical as to rule it out completely, just not start with it as a presumption, let’s not be too cool and too jaded, some of these companies may care about being citizens themselves), they must know that sticking with liberal policies is best for the bottom line somewhere along the way. It is well established that liberals tend to be better educated and have more wealth. Regardless, the decision to drop DEI led to serious consequences:
The backlash to the move was swift, with civil rights activists and people across social media calling for a boycott. Georgia pastor Dr. Jamal Bryan even told his congregation that they should participate in a “40-day fast from Target.”
I see you working. Forty days? Very biblical. Nicely done. And apparently nicely done as to the message, which has come through with blessed clarity:
Now that’s how you boycott. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/BocBMEb1Lq
— ✭ 🅑🅤🅑🅑🅐 ✭ (@BubbatheOG) February 5, 2025
Yes, that is how it is done. If corporate America believes that it can be let off the hook simply by one federal election, an election against a candidate struggling against so much basic misogyny, as perhaps not particularly indicative of where the country actually stands with respect to new initiatives, then it deserves what it gets.
We on the Left really have to be careful about how we push for modern inclusive and progressive initiatives. People do not like having anything “shoved” on them. This is especially true for conservatives who prize the belief that they only think for themselves. I always thought of DEI as a combination of “common sense” and just plain old “politeness” and “respect.” Nothing more. We want to include everyone without regard to race or background, that just “is” (If you can’t agree to that, you’re hopeless and not worth the time), we want to care about it and you (“empathy”) and again – you’re included, no matter your roots (Inclusion), and so this isn’t something radical at all, just the bare minimum, really. But the way we advocate for the program really turns some people off and there has to be a better way.
Please hear me. I fully understand that there is a large segment of the Right that just flat doesn’t want to include a diverse population. Again, I don’t even count them in my consideration because they’re not worth it. Additionally, if we just link up with the other group, we have more than enough to govern. There are some on the Right that have no idea what DEI actually encompasses, its actual goal, and thus lead some who may read less than others, to believe that we are “Pushing transvestites on kids… ” (This is what they hear when they hear “trans rights,” not knowing the difference between transgendered and transvestites, one being a lifestyle choice (fine), one being a biological/medical reality that should be subject to treatment if desired), these are the people we need to reach and it has to be through what sounds like education more than a program to which they aspire.
To that end, the Target – DEI fallout is incredibly helpful in that it is something to which we can point when another company considers the same. We can accurately note that society must value these diversity programs far more than the current government, which is selling itself to the highest bidder. For reasons that require sociological-economic research, the people who value DEI have financial clout sufficient to make this hurt. Perhaps it is just pure numbers. We know it is not elitism, Target is about as proletariat as it gets, it’s not like Urban Outfitters dropped DEI.
So that happened and that is a good thing. God knows that the administration (Some say, use “regime” but I’m not ready to go there with an American government quite yet, these things stick through presidents), the administration won’t be moved by the results, but corporate America is as good a target as any right now, indeed – in many ways, even better than government. Corporate America demands results overnight or they lose money. They can get sued for such…
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter/X as @JasonMiciak and now follow me on Bluesky.
That’s the way to strike back. Money is the only language these people understand, and if consumers boycott their products and shareholders sue them, they can be brought down to size.
Musk may be the richest man on the planet, but he’s incredibly vulnerable. If I were a Tesla shareholder, I’d be worried.
It is an excellent point. Musk isn’t diversified enough, at least from a defensive standpoint. His wealth is almost exclusively wrapped up in Tesla stock (Not Space X, Neurolink, Twitter, None), with Tesla as the 8th most market capped stock. It is why he was able to shoot up so relatively easily, just tracking Tesla stock, few would be so bold as to not have diversified much, and it leaves him able to really jump that much more (No one else is similarly positioned), if Tesla stock doubles, he’s at close to $800 billion or “Brazil” in terms of GDP. But again, if Tesla takes a big hit, you get the reverse.
The trouble is that it is now so much wealth that he could lose 75% of his wealth and still be just under $100 billion. One has to give him some credit. It took real stones to leave it all in Tesla (Not all, he took $6 billion out in cash recently), and he won. But yes, money talks, and he’s looking at the first $1 trillion. If he went back to under $250 billion he would feel like a pauper.
jason
“But the way we advocate for the program really turns some people off and there has to be a better way.
Please hear me. I fully understand that there is a large segment of the Right that just flat doesn’t want to include a diverse population.”
Sorry, but to the latter point, you’re absolutely wrong. The right does want a “diverse population”; it’s just they want that “diverse” (ie, non-white, non-hetero, non-cis) population to “stay in their assigned place.” They’ll take their little token Black and Brown and Gay (and even Trans–Caitlyn Jenner hasn’t exactly been very vocal of late, has she?) folks but they need to remember who the master is (in all senses, mind you) and accept whatever scraps “massa” is willing to “share.”
As to the former, care to offer some suggestions of HOW EXACTLY to get the message out? Until we can stop the right-wing propaganda machine and all its lies, there’s absolutely NOTHING that’s going to change minds on the other side about the DEI message. Our side spent the last three months of the campaign warning EXACTLY what Trump was going to do as soon as he got back into office. The right-wing propaganda machine said, “Oh, no. That’ll never happen.” And, what happened? EXACTLY what our side said would happen. And what’s the reaction been from the right-wing propaganda machine? A little bit of token opposition but, for the most part, it’s been fluffing Trump and his fragile widdle ego. Even with the Muskrat’s participation (which, let’s face it, would NEVER have been accepted by Fox “News” and OANN and RedState if President Harris had invited George Soros to do a progressive version of DOGE), the right-wing propaganda machine has been largely silent about Muskrat and his toy boys (or Thiel’s little boytoys) poking around sensitive government material. (Again, just imagine the right-wing’s proverbial meltdown if there was even a rumor that Soros was trying to access IRS information or play around with Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare. But Muskrat actually doing it? Crickets.)
I no longer donate money to Democrats. I offer them bullets instead. We need to start shooting some of these motherfuckers.