The Minneapolis-based retailer said the changes to its “Belonging at the Bullseye” strategy would include ending a programs that favored only black employees and promoted black-owned businesses.
Target, which operates nearly 2000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people, said it already had planned to end the racial preference program this year. The company said Friday that it also would conclude the diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals it previously set.
The goals included hiring and promoting more women and members of racial minority groups, and recruiting more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people.
A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions emboldened conservative groups to bring or threaten lawsuits against companies that had policies that favored people of certain races or sexual orientation.
President Donald Trump this week signaled his administration's agreement with conservatives saying policies that favor people based on race and sexual orientation are unconstitutional.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending DEI programs across the federal government. The order calls for revoking all DEI mandates, policies, preferences and activities, along with the review and revision of existing employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs.
