Posted on 08/17/2006 10:23:47 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ATLANTA
Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young has stepped down from his position as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart, the longtime civil rights leader said early Friday.
Young was hired by the group in February to help improve Wal-Mart's image.
"I think I was on the verge of becoming part of the controversy, and I didn't want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," Young told The Associated Press.
Young said his decision came after a report in the Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.
In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he is concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.
"Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
Young said he decided to end his involvement with Working Families for Wal-Mart after he started getting calls about the story.
"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot more volatile," he said.
He said working with the group "was also taking more of my time that I thought."
Young came under fire from the civil rights community after his company, GoodWorks International, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart to promote the world's largest retailer. Young's company, which he has headed since 1997, works with corporations and governments to foster economic development in Africa and the Caribbean.
In an April letter to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, Young said it was wrong for the church and others to blame Wal-Mart for world ills.
"I think we may have erred in not paying enough attention to the potentially positive role of business and the corporate multinational community in seeking solutions to the problems of the poor," Young wrote at that time.
Andrew Young to Head Pro-Wal-Mart Group ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1586231/posts
Posted by rightwingintelligentsia
On News/Activism ^ 02/27/2006 4:40:44 AM PST · 46 replies · 573+ views
AP on MSN Money ^ | February 27, 2006
(AP) - Former United Nations ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young will be the public spokesman for a group organized with backing from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that defends the world's largest retailer against mounting attacks from its critics. Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group of community leaders from across the country, was set to announce Monday that Young will be the chairman of its 16 member steering committee formed in December to counter charges from two union-backed groups that are pressuring Wal-Mart to improve wages and benefits.
How refreshing to see that Andrew Young feels no need to hide his bigotry from public display. Wonder whether he also believes in and preaches the "blood libel" accusations...
LOL."First the Jews,then the Koreans,now it's the Arabs..."If a white man said something like that,he'd be called a racist.
Late night Wal-Mart ping.
Goodbye Andy. Please leave your welcome bag at the door. You won't be missed.
No doubt the DNC will continue to pay him whatever amount he loses by doing this.
Guess I should go off to Wal-Mart to buy something...anything.
"NO BALLS".
"Former Atlanta mayor, U.N. ambassador, dope smoking, drug dealing Andrew Young, who along with EX-President Jimmy Carter was responsible for the fall of Rhodesian and its conversion by Marxist terrorist Robert Muggabe into a pit of disgusting backwardness and murder, has left his appointment to the shake-down extortion group known as Working Families for Wal-Mart."
Jesse Jackson & the Rev Al Sharpton are deeply saddened.
BTTT... late night bookmark for tommorrow...
Welcome to Walmart...
Last time I saw Al Gore he was standing in front of a Walmart hailing it as a great American company to work for. I see a huge flip flop coming.
Thanks. That's what I was talking about.
What a pack of hypocrites.
Andrew Young as Carter's rep was largely responsible for the Iran of today not to mention giving Arafat decades to steal billions of dallars.
Thank a bunch Andy for all you did to empower Islamic radicals.
WalMart ping.........it's turning into quite a week!!!!
Oh well, it's off to WalMart for me in a little while.
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