Opinion | Don’t Like What Trump Is Doing? You Have More Power Than You Think.

For this Lent, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, didn’t urge the 10,000 members of his congregation to give up chocolate or coffee. Instead, he called for a 40-day “fast” from shopping at Target because of its decision to pull back on its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. Other influential African American congregations across the country followed suit, and now over 150,000 people have signed up to participate. They’ve joined activists who are boycotting a growing list of companies, including Walmart and Starbucks. We usually think of churches as sources of spiritual guidance. That is true enough; I do need help trying to be a better father, husband and neighbor. I need to know how to love, forgive, overcome trauma and pursue God. But that pursuit of God happens in the real world of economic exploitation where businesses crush unions, abandon commitments to invest in Black and brown communities and forsake diversity goals. I didn’t need a pastor to tell me that businesses that made diversity commitments during the troubled summer of 2020 didn’t really care about my Black life, but churches must show what the Christian faith has to say...