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Skriven 2006-03-23 22:04:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Civil rights leader
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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/23/D8GHF9P0L.html

Activist Under Fire for Wal-Mart Position
Mar 23 2:19 PM US/Eastern
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By ERRIN HAINES
Associated Press Writer


DECATUR, Ga.


At the grand opening of a Wal-Mart in a black suburb of Atlanta, civil rights
leader Andrew Young danced with store clerks, bouncing to the song "We Are
Family."

He also posed with a $1 million check from the company _ a donation for a
memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to be built on the National Mall in
Washington.



Young took part in the pep rally in his new position as a paid corporate
cheerleader for Wal-Mart _ a role that has perplexed some of his longtime civil
rights colleagues, who have all but accused him of going over to the enemy.

Activists for the poor have long complained that Wal-Mart skimps on wages and
health benefits, forces employees to work off the clock, and kills off
mom-and-pop businesses.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, known as the dean of the civil rights movement, said
Young _ the 74-year-old former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador _ is acting as
a "lone wolf" in working for Wal-Mart.

"Maybe he knows something that other advocates for economic justice don't,"
Lowery said in a statement. "Maybe we will see the corporate giant be born
again and become a good corporate citizen."

Young, who as one of King's top lieutenants was a business liaison during the
civil rights era, said that by working for the world's largest retailer, he
hopes to increase jobs and open other doors for poor people. He defended his
role as entirely consistent with the ideals of the civil rights movement.

"Civil rights leaders are involved in helping poor people," he said. "That's
what I've been doing all my life."

Young long ago left behind his protest days in favor of stumping for economic
opportunity. As a two-term mayor in the 1980s, Young said he attracted more
than a million jobs and $70 billion in private investment to the city.

Since 1997, he has headed GoodWorks International, which works with
corporations and governments to foster economic development in Africa and the
Caribbean.

He and his company were hired last month to promote Wal-Mart at public
appearances, in interviews and in op-ed pieces, said Kevin Sheridan, spokesman
for Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group organized with backing from the
company. The group defends Wal-Mart Stores Inc. against attacks from critics.

Sheridan would not disclose how much Young and his company are being paid;
Young said he is not sure how much his company is getting.

"He obviously is a highly credible public face that brings very high degree of
respect to any debate that he involves himself with," Sheridan said. "We take
very seriously his advice and his counsel. The career that he has had fighting
for poor and working folks for his entire career has been the focus of almost
everything he's been involved with this group to date, and we continue to look
for new avenues for him to speak out."

Last fall, in another effort to change it ways, Wal-Mart announced steps to
make health insurance more affordable for its employees.

"This is a case where Wal-Mart is hiring someone to make them look good, but
this is someone who will try, through friendly persuasion, to get them to
review some of what they're doing," said Margaret Simms, an economist for the
Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

She said that while the civil rights movement long concentrated on winning
political power for blacks, "many people in the civil rights movement view
economic development as the next frontier."

This not Young's first corporate job. He served for 10 years on the board of
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and still makes public appearances on the
company's behalf. He also has Nike as client through GoodWorks, and in 1997 he
came under fire from activists for issuing a report exonerating the shoe
manufacturer of unfair labor practices in Vietnam.

Akinyele Umoja, a professor of black studies at Georgia State University,
complained: "What he's doing is providing credibility and legitimacy for some
of these corporations that have policies that just reinforce inequality."

On Wednesday, Young hugged customers, signed autographs and posed for pictures
with local dignitaries while singing Wal-Mart's praises. He cut the ribbon at a
store that replaces an abandoned Kmart that closed two decades ago in the
mostly black neighborhood.

The new store has received more than 8,000 applicants for 500 jobs. Young said
he expects new housing and more business to follow Wal- Mart's lead and come to
the suburban area that is home to some of the country's most affluent blacks
but has stagnated in attracting jobs.

Charles Steele, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the
organization King helped found, stopped short of criticizing Young.

"The perception is that Wal-Mart is really not a fair competitor in terms of
the economy," Steele said. "What I am hoping and anticipating is that he would
open up the avenues of communication to civil rights organizations, to begin
dialogue and bring about meaningful solutions to a very negative situation in
terms of perception."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who also worked alongside King, reserved his negative
comments for the company, not his former comrade.

"It's his private choice. That's not a public policy issue," Jackson said,
adding that the shift to a "Wal-Mart economy" of part-time work without health
insurance is bad for the country.

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