Rev. Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, the Senior Pastor of 10,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA, outside of Atlanta, is a renowned faith and social justice leader. Steeped in the prophetic tradition of the Black Church, Bryant’s ministry is committed to social justice, racial equality, and economic empowerment. This year, Bryant, along with former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner and civil rights activist Tamika Mallory, organized the “Target Fast,” a 40-day economic boycott of Target stores in response to the corporation’s decision to scale back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The campaign has grown into a full-blown boycott of the corporation.
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He also spearheaded Project 5-5-5, a massive voter mobilization and education effort to counter conservative political agendas. For his efforts, Bryant has been honored with an inclusion on The Root 100.
Bryant recently spoke with The Root about the power of Black unity, the future of the Target boycott, and why the Black Church can not afford to be silent on social issues affecting Black communities.
From the onset, Bryant shared how the “Target Fast” was inspired by a boycott led by Black women in Minneapolis and how he hoped that it would be a clarion call for Black churches across the nation.
“I want to note that the Target boycott began with some amazing sisters, Kiara Imani Williams and Nekima Levy Armstrong, in Minneapolis, where Target is headquartered. I introduced the “Target Fast” to get the Black Church reengaged in public social justice,” Bryant explained. “For this generation, the Black Church seems to have its head in the sand and is not speaking truth to power.
“Beginning with the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Black Church failed the test of showing that it can support something that it’s not leading. So a lot of millennials, Gen Zs, don’t really hear the prophetic voice of the Black Church. I thought that a forty-day fast from Target was a way for the Black church to become reinvolved.”
“The tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King reminds us that we can’t have a Walt Disney World interpretation of church history. The reality is, even at Dr King’s peak, the majority of Black churches were not with him. That’s how we have the Progressive Baptist Convention. It is always just a remnant,” he continued. “This movement of the Target fast, it underscored to me that you don’t need the masses to do it. You just need those who feel called and compelled.”
When asked how he felt about his work as minister and a social activist being recognized by his selection in the Root 100, Bryant admitted that he was grateful for the honor but recognized that the work must continue.
“I was relieved, and I was grieved when I received the Root 100 honor because I wanted more clergy to be represented on that list. I’m glad to be a part of it, and it just says that the Black Church has to clear its throat and cry even louder,” Bryant said. “Also, let me pause to publicly appreciate the nameless and faceless pastors in the trenches in local communities. They don’t always get the national accolades, but they’re doing the heavy lifting.”
Although he pastors a mega church on the national stage, Bryant shared that any church, no matter the size of the membership, can impact its community.
“Martin Luther King never pastored more than 400 people, but they changed the world. It’s not the size of the church, but the size of the heart of that church. Desmond Tutu said in his autobiography that at the end of every year, the poor people in the community should have a vote to see whether that church should remain open,” he said. “If that happened, a lot of churches would close if the community had to vote. My dad, Bishop John Bryant, would often say that the Black Church has a great product. We just got bad PR. A lot of our churches don’t talk about the good they do, and we’ve gotta do a better job of doing that.”
Bryant went on to say that he never would have thought that the Target boycott would still have momentum because he believed it was a temporary strategy. Because of the movement’s impact, which has resulted in a $20B market value loss for Target, Bryant said it shows the importance of Black economic solidarity.
“I envisioned that the Target fast would have been over three months ago,” he laughed. “I thought we would be on to the next one. So we’re lacing up our boots, believing that this Christmas season, as we just saw this past weekend with the We Ain’t Buying It campaign, Target has suffered three consecutive cycles of losses. Target is really having to face the reality of the power of Black unity.”
“Target is on 27 PWI campuses. There are 112 HBCUs. We gave Target a blank check and said, ‘Pick an HBCU to adopt and show their business program how to scale,’ Bryant continued. “Show young entrepreneurs how it is that they can get into big box corporations. That was back in February, and to this hour, they still haven’t done it.”
In the age of Donald Trump, Bryant believes that civil rights organizations can not afford to be on the sidelines with so much at stake for Black people.
“The best thing to happen to civil rights organizations is the Trump administration, because there are so many issues to fight for. But I’m still waiting to hear from those organizations. Who’s going to stand with the 250,000 unprotected Haitians who have till February 1 to self-deport? Who’s going to raise a voice for Jamaica, which needs billions of dollars to rebuild?” Bryant asked.
“Who’s going to stand for young black students in Florida who have books that were banned, which talk about the Civil Rights Movement?” he continued. “Who’s going to say anything about HBCUs, who are in jeopardy of losing federal funding if they don’t accommodate PWIS, who will be penalized if they have diversity programs?” Bryant asked
“We don’t have the luxury of picking one issue,” he said. “But everybody can put their hands to the plow as long as they refuse to turn back.”
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