As corporate America continues its quiet retreat from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) promises, New Birth Cathedral’s Dr. Jamal Bryant is once again stepping up to call the question. After launching a boycott of Target earlier this year for its rollback of DEI initiatives, Bryant is now sounding the alarm on Dollar General—a retail giant with over 20,000 stores, yet a record of corporate silence when it comes to Black economic empowerment.
This isn’t about cheap groceries or discount deals. This is about corporate accountability.
“We’re asking for a full revisitation of their DEI policies. We want real partnership with Black farmers and Black-owned vendors. We want investment in the Black community,” Bryant responded, naming what so many Black consumers have been demanding for decades—reciprocity.
Bryant’s message is clear: you can’t continue to profit off Black communities while refusing to invest in them. Dollar General, a corporation that reportedly rakes in over $40 billion a year, has no visible record of supporting HBCUs, Black-led organizations, or movements for justice. Only 2% of its executive leadership reflects the diversity of the people who shop in and often staff its stores.
Dollar General’s corporate response? A generic PR statement:
“Our mission is not ‘Serving Some Others’—it is simply ‘Serving Others.’ … We continuously evolve our programs in support of the long-term interests of our customers, employees, and shareholders.”
But evolution without equity is just performance. And Bryant isn’t buying it.
He’s calling this the “Summer of Discontent.” A nationwide push to hold corporations accountable, starting with a Dollar General boycott that runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Bryant urges supporters to flood phone lines, inboxes, and timelines—or simply walk away.
This isn’t just protest. It’s a call to power. It’s about reclaiming the $1.6 trillion Black spending power and channeling it toward companies that respect our dignity, partner with our communities, and stand with us in action—not just words.
We’ve marched. We’ve mourned. Now, we boycott.