that POS is a case study in devolution
Posted on 04/14/2019 6:29:24 PM PDT by massmike
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) asked seven of the nation’s leading bankers on Wednesday to confirm their race.
“As I look at the panel, and I'm grateful for your attendance, the--the eye would perceive that the seven of you have something in common. You appear to be white men. I may be mistaken,” Green said at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
“If one among you happens to be something other than a white male, would you kindly extend a hand into the air? Kindly let the record reflect that there are no hands in the air and that the panel is made up of white men,” Green continued.
“This is not a pejorative,” Green said. “You've all sermonized to a certain extent about diversity. If you believe that your likely successor will be a woman or a person of color, would you kindly extend a hand into the air?” [No hands raised.]
Then Green told the bank executives, “For fear that you may not hear me, just raise your hand now so that I'll know you're there. Raise your hand, please. All of you. Sir, apparently you don't hear me over on the end. Would you kindly extend a hand into the air if you can hear me?”
Green prodded all of them to raise their hands, which the bankers did -- reluctantly. Green continued:
I know it's difficult to go on the record sometimes, but the record has to be made. All white men, and none of you, not one, appears to believe that your successor will be a female or a person of color.
Is it your bank likely to have a female or person of color within the next decade? Kindly extend a hand into the air -- two, three, four, five. All right, five. Without giving the commentary that I would dearly like to give, I'll move on.
You know, I'm sitting next to a reverend, and I've heard him say that he'd rather see a sermon then hear a sermon. Let us have an opportunity to see a sermon when you return.
Next question has to do with something near and dear to my heart. My ancestors were slaves. In 2005, is it true that J.P. Morgan released information directly indicating that it directly benefited from slavery? Would the representative from J.P. Morgan respond?
James Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JP Morgan, Chase & Co., said, “I do believe that in 2005 we made a report about potential transactions that involve slavery between J.P. Morgan or its heritage companies back in the 1800s.” Green asked Dimon if his bank “accepted loans against slaves as collateral.”
“I believe that to be true, yes,” Dimon responded.
Green asked if any of the other banks have produced a study on whether they benefited from slavery. “If so, raise your hand, please. Let the record reflect that none have raised a hand, not one has raised a hand.”
Green then asked, “Do you believe that your bank benefited from slavery in some way in terms of its business practices? If so, raise your hand. (No hands raised.)
“If you do not believe that it benefited, raise your hand. Let the record reflect that all but Mr. Dimon raised a hand. Thank you.
When his time was up, Green told the seven bankers: “I do want you to know that we believe you can do better.”
Later, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said she found the lack of diversity in banking boardrooms and corporate suites “unacceptable.”
She told the bankers to either hire someone, or give a current employee the title of “Director of the Office of Minority Inclusion in Banks.”
“Will you authorize this person to then have a meeting with me so I can do a follow-up, that we can be more than aspiration?” Beatty asked the bankers, most of whom agreed.
“the eye would perceive that the seven of you have something in common. You appear to be white men”
Oh how I wish one of them had raised their hand and declared they WERE a woman and called him a bigot if he questioned them. LOL
Well, next time I am constipated I will just replay this.
It really makes me want to cr*p.
And, you seem to be green.
Is there any doubt that some people in positions of authority would like to criminalize skin color? Isn’t that what the Nazis did?
This time, we "untermenschen" are armed.
Well, apparently ‘Rep’. Al Green is racist; or is that ok?
To the teeth! :)
Well al why didn’t you call in the black panthers or the nation of farrakhan to drag them out and lynch them? You racist sob...
It is unwise for a business to insult its most profitable customer, the U.S. government to the tune of 20 Trillion and counting.
Idiots like Al Green are nothing but a cancer on our body politic. He’s never done a damn thing worth a crap. All he does is carp about racism. He’s another great reason for term limits.
Banking is not most black people’s strong suit.
God, what an idiot!
Somebody should have pushed back with equally bad manners.
That’s the only way someone like him would remember it.
The Reform Party was started in Canada by Preston Manning in 1987 and was of course immediately branded with all kinds epithets such as racist, extremists, xenophobe, homophobes, sexists far right wing etc… the reality was that they were for the most part, fairly normal conservative minded folks. One time a reporter asked Manning during a campaign “so how many woman and blacks do you have on your campaign team?” His reply as best I can recall was something like “I have no idea but I can tell you that we have no intention of ever compiling those kinds of numbers….. that sounds like something that sexist and racist people do.” I would suggest that the bankers should have a similar response….
that POS is a case study in devolution
Correct answer: raise hand, when asked state “I am an American”. Then get up and leave.
It’s too bad the average person doesn’t follow congressional hearings more closely. When they see the kind of lunkheads who are assembled in Washington to make important decisions for the rest of us, they would have to question whether that body should have such extensive power.
“Yep, I would have walked out on his dumb ass.”
If you had your board of directors would have terminated your employment before the end of the day. You would have also become unemployable in the industry. When you make $20 + million a year like these guys you suck it up and play the game. Most of those guys were probably writing big checks to the Congressman’s re-election campaign by the end of the day.
How many Republicans stood up and objected? Zero? Why would these bankers vote GOP? Next election cycle they’ll pay the keep off my back price to the Dems and ignore the RNC calls.
It’s blatantly racist. Why are they never called out for this?
This retrograde loser is full of hate and racism. The oaf is an embarrassment to civil humanity. What a pig.
One should have looked at his hand and uttered in horror “I’m white?! Why didn’t someone tell me this before!?”
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