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June 16, 2008
Sharpton Extorting a Fortune from Corporations
One sector of the economy that is doing just fine is the racial extortion business. Greasy thug and prominent Democrat politician Al Sharpton — whose race-baiting has gotten people killed on more than one occasion — is making a mint:
Anheuser-Busch gave him six figures, Colgate-Palmolive shelled out $50,000 and Macy's and Pfizer have contributed thousands to the Rev. Al Sharpton's charity.
Almost 50 companies — including PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and Chase — and some labor unions sponsored Sharpton's National Action Network [NAN] annual conference in April.
Terrified of negative publicity, fearful of a consumer boycott or eager to make nice with the civil-rights activist, CEOs write checks, critics say, to NAN and Sharpton — who brandishes the buying power of African-American consumers. In some cases, they hire him as a consultant.
NAN is a tax-exempt, nonprofit funnel with the skinny end sticking into Sharpton's pocket. The extortion is as obvious as paying the mafia not to break your store's windows.
A General Motors spokesman told The Post that NAN had repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — asked for contributions for six years, beginning in August 2000.
Then, in December 2006, Sharpton threatened to call a boycott of the carmaker over the closing of an African-American-owned GM dealership in The Bronx, and he picketed outside GM headquarters on Fifth Avenue.
Last year, General Motors gave NAN a $5,000 donation. It gave $5,000 more this year, a spokesman said, calling NAN a "worthy" organization.
In November 2003, Sharpton picketed DaimlerChrysler's Chicago car show and threatened a boycott over alleged racial bias in car loans.
"This is institutional racism," he bellowed.
In May 2004, Chrysler began supporting NAN's conferences, which include panels on corporate responsibility and civil rights and a black-tie awards dinner to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Last year, Sharpton gave Chrysler an award for corporate excellence.
Sharpton acquires not only money, but power — the power to get his supporters hired rather than more qualified Caucasians.
In 2003, Sharpton targeted American Honda for not hiring enough African-Americans in management.
"We support those that support us," wrote Sharpton and the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, president of NAN's Michigan chapter, in a letter to American Honda. "We cannot be silent while African-Americans spend hard-earned dollars with a company that does not hire, promote or do business with us in a statistically significant manner."
Two months after American Honda execs met with Sharpton, the carmaker began to sponsor NAN's events — and continues to pay "a modest amount" each year, a spokesman said.
There are laws against extortion and racketeering. But apparently they only apply to white people. Otherwise Jesse Jackson would have been locked up long ago. At least the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn is finally looking into NAN's finances.
On a tip from Wiggins.
Posted by Van Helsing at June 16, 2008 8:59 AM
Comments
I've never seen a company stupid enough to discriminate against someone who had skills that could help make money. Discrimination my a$$. Rev Al be doing the nappy-headed shakedown Sho-nuff!
Posted by: BAH HUMBUG at June 16, 2008 10:15 AM
Statistically-significant manner? You know, statistics are funny things. Something that happens on average 3 out of four times does not mean that it will happen three out of the next four times. Suppose 1/3 of the working population is female (just for argument; I don't know the real number), it might or might not be reasonable to expect that 1/3 of executives would be female. (I say it isn't reasonable, some reasons for which are outlined below).
Even if you accept it as reasonable, it is not reasonable to expect that EVERY SINGLE COMPANY will have women in 1/3 of their executive positions. Some may have more, some less, and some none. It no more denotes an attitude of sexism than a lack of minorities denotes racism. That might be the problem, but it could also be that the company in question chose the most qualified candidates from the pool that presented itself, and women/minorities/whatever were not it.
Going one step further, it might be that at this time 1/3 of workers are women, but the number of "qualified" women (whatever that means) might be much lower than that. Maybe 10 years ago it was higher than 1/3, and maybe in 10 years it will be again. People often make the mistake of taking "on average" to mean "always". The global warming guys are fond of this approach.
Companies that discriminate against talented candidates due to race or sex bias will probably come to regret it anyway, because really good managers are hard to come by. Good managers can do great things for a company, while mediocre managers can cost it a lot of money. Companies like to make money, and anyone that can do that is welcome at any company with any sense at all.
Sharpton and his type make me sick, not just for the extortionary tactics but because it distracts people on both sides of the racial divide from fixing real instances of actual discrimination.
Posted by: CoderInCrisis at June 16, 2008 11:40 AM
