By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
At the annual convention of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), held under the theme “The Black Press: Engaging Black America—Empowerment, Justice and Prosperity,” Rev. Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant will receive the NNPA’s prestigious 2025 Newsmaker of the Year Award. Bryant will be honored during a ceremony on June 27 where the organization will recognize Bryant’s bold leadership in confronting corporate America’s retreat from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), most notably through his ongoing boycott of Target.
The NNPA is the trade association representing more than 200 African American-owned newspapers and media companies that comprise the 198-year-old Black Press of America.
Bryant, the Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in metro Atlanta, launched a 40-day fast—aligned with Lent—as an economic protest against Target after the company announced in January it would end its DEI initiatives and cancel a $2 billion pledge it made in 2020 to support Black-owned businesses following the murder of George Floyd.
“After the murder of George Floyd, [Target] made a $2 billion commitment to invest in Black businesses,” Bryant said during an earlier appearance on the Black Press’ Let It Be Known news program. “That commitment was due in December 2025. When they pulled out of the DEI agreement in January, they also canceled that $2 billion commitment.”
Target has told Black Press USA that it has exceeded its commitments made after Floyd’s death.
However, Bryant cited the $12 million spent daily by Black consumers at Target as a driving reason to focus the protest on the retailer. Within just one week of launching the petition at targetfast.org, 50,000 people had signed on. “This is just phase one,” he said. “Amazon and others come right after. America has shown us time and time again: if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense.”
Beyond the restoration of DEI programs, Bryant has called on Target to invest $250 million in Black-owned banks to help scale Black businesses and to partner with HBCUs located near the company’s 10 distribution centers. “White women are the number one beneficiaries of DEI,” he said. “What I am asking for is a quarter of a billion dollars to be invested in Black banks so that our Black businesses can scale.”
The NNPA, in response to widespread corporate rollbacks, also launched a national public education and selective buying campaign.
“We are the trusted voice of Black America, and we will not be silent or nonresponsive to the rapid rise of renewed Jim Crow racist policies in corporate America,” said NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry Sr.
“Black Americans spend $2 trillion annually,” said NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. “We must evaluate and realign to question why we continue to spend our money with companies that do not respect us.”
Bryant has also partnered with Ron Busby, President and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers, to provide consumers with a directory of over 300,000 Black-owned businesses. “You can’t tell people what not to do without showing them what to do,” Bryant said. “If you’re not going to Target or Walmart but need essentials like toilet paper, soap, or detergent, we’ll show you where to get them and reinvest in Black businesses.”
He said the impact has proved major. “Since Black people have been boycotting Target, the stock has dropped by $11. Stockholders are now suing Target because of the adverse impact this boycott has had on their stock,” Bryant proclaimed.
He also addressed Target’s recent $300,000 agreement with the National Baptist Convention. During a sermon, he accused the convention of allowing the company to sidestep accountability. “You thought you were going to go around me and go to the National Baptist Convention and sell out for $300,000?” Bryant demanded. “Are you crazy to think that we gonna’ sell out for chump change? You must not know who we are!”
Rev. Boise Kimber, president of the National Baptist Convention, said the denomination is working on a three-year plan with Target that “will be very beneficial to the Black community.”
Bryant has spent decades as a leading voice for justice. From his early work as National Youth and College Director of the NAACP, where he mobilized over 70,000 young people in nonviolent campaigns, to founding Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore—once the fastest-growing church in the AME denomination—to now leading New Birth, supporters said Bryant has never wavered in his commitment to mobilizing faith, economic power, and activism.
A Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and two-time Grammy Award winner, Bryant has established ministries that combat injustice, foster entrepreneurship, and empower economically disadvantaged individuals. He rose from earning a GED to receiving a Ph.D., reaching across generations and building bridges between the Civil Rights era and today’s movements.
Chavis said Bryant’s award at this year’s NNPA convention aligns directly with the event’s theme.
“Dr. Bryant has shown that prophetic voices still matter in the marketplace,” Chavis affirmed. “And the Black Press will always amplify those voices who fight for empowerment, justice, and prosperity.”
