« Video Franchise Reform as a Broadband Driver | Main | Would you eat sushi at Wal-Mart? »
March 21, 2006
(Some) Black Leaders Back Biggest Box
When Wal-Mart wanted to come to Inglewood and Chicago, that familiar coalition of activists and religious leaders beat it back. It happens all the time in urban areas and now WM has turned to a long-time civil rights activist for help:
- When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to present the case for civil rights to the white establishment, he turned to Andrew Young.
Forty years later, Young, a silver-tongued civil rights leader who represented striking sanitation workers in Tennessee and helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964, has been recruited to promote Wal-Mart as a company that serves the poor.
Young announced last month that he would be chairman of the national steering committee for Working Families for Wal-Mart — a new group funded by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to counter criticism of the company's treatment of employees and effect on local communities.
In two weeks WM will open its first store inside Atlanta’s freeway loop. Sure the city has its share of fist-shakers who rail against WM, but other activists and religious leaders are welcoming the biggest box:
- The Gresham Road store is in a struggling, predominantly African American community not far from gentrifying neighborhoods.
"We're trusting and hoping that Wal-Mart revitalizes the area," said James McWhorter, church administrator of the Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church, which acted as a pre-hiring center for the new store. Nearly 5,000 people applied for 450 jobs.
…
Joseph Beasley, the Southern regional director for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said many mom-and-pop stores had taken advantage of poor African Americans.
"Many residents would love to have a Wal-Mart come in," said Beasley, who works in a poor northwest Atlanta community where, he said, small stores often charge high prices for spoiling meat and vegetables and impose 2% fees for cashing checks.
…
Last year, Black Enterprise magazine listed Wal-Mart as one of its "30 Best Companies for Diversity," based on the basis of what it called significant representation of blacks and other minorities.
Article here.
Posted by tedb at March 21, 2006 07:16 PM
I just don't have anything to say. Not that it matters. Eh. I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but I don't care. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten75811 at January 22, 2007 02:10 PM
---
I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten9235 at January 27, 2007 06:39 PM
---
My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten1126 at January 27, 2007 09:07 PM
---
I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten81628 at January 28, 2007 04:38 AM
---
I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten25211 at January 29, 2007 02:21 AM
---
500 Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or
misconfiguration and was unable to complete
your request.
Please contact the server administrator,
webmaster and inform them of the time the error occurred,
and anything you might have done that may have
caused the error.
More information about this error may be available
in the server error log.
Comment by: Sten77046 at January 29, 2007 04:08 PM
---
Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.
Comment by: Sten86666 at January 30, 2007 12:39 AM
---
Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten78193 at January 30, 2007 02:04 AM
---
I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten61699 at February 2, 2007 03:43 AM
---
I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten90193 at February 2, 2007 12:07 PM
---
I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
Comment by: Sten41516 at February 2, 2007 02:48 PM
---
Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.
Comment by: Sten91731 at February 3, 2007 06:20 AM
---
I just don't have much to say these days, but so it goes. Today was a total loss. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten13225 at February 3, 2007 10:49 PM
---
I haven't gotten anything done recently. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I haven't been up to anything these days, but it's not important. Today was a total loss.
Comment by: Sten21454 at February 4, 2007 12:13 AM
---
I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten32721 at February 4, 2007 02:15 AM
---
Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten81109 at February 4, 2007 12:04 PM
---
I feel like an empty room, but eh. Nothing seems worth doing. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten1739 at February 5, 2007 09:54 AM
---
I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten51396 at February 5, 2007 04:30 PM
---
I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
Comment by: Sten64271 at February 5, 2007 07:08 PM
---
I haven't been up to anything today. I don't care. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. Basically not much happening right now. Maybe tomorrow. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten83028 at February 5, 2007 10:43 PM
---
My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten47874 at February 6, 2007 12:01 AM
---
I just don't have anything to say , but shrug. So it goes. Not much on my mind recently. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten18053 at February 6, 2007 03:29 AM
---
I haven't been up to anything these days. So it goes. I can't be bothered with anything these days.
Comment by: Sten77180 at February 6, 2007 07:58 AM
---
Comments