‘We Ain’t Buying it’: Grassroots groups mobilize to boycott Amazon, Home Depot, and Target

Organizers want Texans to boycott retailers they say are enabling Trump administration attacks on democracy, immigrants, and diversity efforts.

A coalition of grassroots groups is calling on consumers to punish three companies they accuse of capitulating to Trump administration efforts attacking democracy, pursuing mass deportations, and dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. 

The campaign, called “We Ain’t Buying It,” wants consumers to punch back against Amazon, Home Depot, and Target by boycotting the companies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend—one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year. 

The three companies—with combined annual revenue of more than $900 billion—are among the largest in the US and sit among the top 50 companies in the latest list of Fortune 500 companies. Yet organizers of “We Ain’t Buying It” said their campaign can make it clear that consumers can use their economic power to send an expensive message. 

“All year, companies like Target, Amazon and Home Depot have quietly collaborated with Trump to entrench his power and to do his bidding. We won’t stand for it,” Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, said in a prepared statement. 

“This week, we’ll send a clear message: stop complying with this lawless, vicious, bigoted agenda. Stand up for American democracy, civil rights and our communities. Our dollars will go to people who share our values,” Greenberg added.

Indivisible, Black Voters Matter, and Until Freedom are organizing the boycott, which runs from Thanksgiving on Nov. 27 through Cyber Monday on Dec. 1.

Organizers said Amazon is included in “We Ain’t Buying It” over the actions of founder Jeff Bezos, who joined other tech billionaires at Trump’s inauguration. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural and is among companies financially supporting a $300 million ballroom replacing the former East Wing of the White House. They added that the company’s treatment of employees and opposition to unions also made it a target of the campaign.

For Home Depot, critics have blasted the company for not taking action against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of laborers outside its big box stores. The arrests are part of Trump’s mass deportation efforts across the country. 

Target has come under fire for acquiescing to Trump’s attacks on DEI. The company ended its expansive DEI policies shortly after Trump signed an executive order in January banning DEI policies in the federal government. Target has also pulled back its outreach to LGBTQ+ consumers.

“From the day he stepped foot into office, Donald Trump has done everything he can to tear apart the fabric of our communities and strip us of our power and the necessary tools to help us resist his fascist agenda. Instead of fighting back and supporting the very people who put money in their pockets, corporations and retailers have bowed at Trump’s feet. But we ain’t buying it,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

“We Ain’t Buying It” wants consumers to skip Amazon, Home Depot, and Target—along with other companies backing the Trump administration—and shop with small and local businesses owned by people of color and immigrants, as well as retailers “that have stood firm for democracy and inclusion,” according to the campaign’s website.

“These corporations can’t keep cashing in on working people and pretending their hands are tied,” Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom, said in a press release. “They get billions in tax breaks while their executives pocket record paychecks and bonuses, but when it’s time to stand up against fascism and racism, they go silent. We see it, and we ain’t buying it.”

Another economic protest, Mass Blackout, is taking place Nov. 25 through Dec. 2. It’s calling on participants to stop working, cut their spending with corporations, cancel streaming and digital subscriptions, avoid travel and restaurants, and go dark on ad-driven social platforms. 

“If you must spend: support small, local businesses only. Pay in cash,” according to the Mass Blackout website. “We’re not targeting small businesses or communities—we’re targeting the corporate systems that profit from injustice, fuel authoritarianism, and crush worker power.”

The consumer boycotts are a tool in the progressive fight against the Trump administration, which has included mass protests in Texas and across the country since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. Tens of thousands of people in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston took part in the most recent “No Kings” protest on Oct. 18.

“Working people are the backbone of our economy, and if corporations like Home Depot, Target and Amazon are going to collude with the administration and enable its attacks on our communities, then we’ll spend our dollars elsewhere. It’s really that simple,” Nelini Stamp, strategy director at Working Families Party, said in a prepared statement. “The ‘We Ain’t Buying It’ campaign is about putting our money where our values are, and not enriching the billionaires who are doing us harm.”