Twin Cities Pride to cut ties with Target over DEI rollback

• It's the latest corporation to backtrack on those efforts in the wake of President Trump's election and dismantling of DEI in the federal government.
• His administration said doing so would return "America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin."

The latest: Twin Cites Pride, which has a long-standing partnership with Target, said in a Facebook post that is "deeply disappointed" by the announcement.

• "We want to ensure all of our community that Target will NOT have a presence at the festival or parade."

Flashback: After the police killing of George Floyd, Target announced it would spend $2 billion with black-owned businesses by 2025.

• One of them was North Minneapolis clothing maker Houston White, who landed a partnership with the retailer to carry his products in 600 stores.

What they're saying: Target supplier diversity program helped Sheletta Brundidge land an advertising deal with Target on her podcast network and social media channels.

• "It did so much for (my) company because of the pride of being able to work with Target, and then the validation," she told Axios. "Once Target started working with me to promote their products, everybody in town was looking at me — 'Who's this girl? She's working with Target. Let's go work with her.'"