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| NAACP's Endless Blackmail Campaign Now Targets Target |
| 2006-07-18 |
| NAACP Wants African-Americans To Stay Away From Target Even companies that make an effort to work with minority-owned businesses typically spend barely 5 percent of their contracting dollars with them, the NAACP president said Monday as his group released report cards on several industries. Blacks shouldn't spend money with companies that don't hire them or advertise in their communities, NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon said. "If corporations spend their money on us, we'll spend our money with those corporations," he said. "It's real simple." Gordon's comments were part of his first keynote convention speech as head of the civil rights group; he took over as president last August. More than 4,000 people are attending the 97th annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which runs through Thursday. The NAACP has graded corporations since 1997 on how well they work with blacks in employment, charitable giving, advertising, contracting and community service. This year, the civil rights group looked at the telecommunications, lodging, finance, retail and auto industries. Most companies did best on charitable giving and community service, and worst on hiring and contracting. Gordon said the contracting numbers were "totally unacceptable." A former division president at Verizon, Gordon said directing black consumer dollars will push companies to be more responsive. "I have a pretty unique perspective - 35 years working for a corporation with a purchasing budget in the billions and billions of dollars, and a chance to observe internally how the procurement process works," he said. Telecommunications companies scored best with an overall B-minus grade. For the second straight year, Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. received the highest grade of any company - a 3.5 out of a possible 4.0. The company pushes its managers to look for vendors and employees who are black, said Valencia I. Adams, a BellSouth vice president. "They take it to heart and really work hard on it," she said. Wachovia Corp. and SunTrust Banks were the highest-ranked banks with a 3.17 score. Wachovia got a perfect score on community relations. The company pays all employees to donate four hours a month to local charities, and employees volunteered for 650,000 hours in 2005, said G. Dewey Norwood Jr., an assistant vice president. Of the 50 companies contacted by the NAACP, five ignored the survey, including four retailers: Dillard's Inc.; Kohl's Corp.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; and Target Corp. All were given Fs for not answering. The other company that failed to answer was Excel, a telecommunications company; it also received an F. Gordon called on blacks to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP's questions - though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott. "They didn't even care to respond to our survey," he said. "Stay out of their stores." The NAACP focused on Target because they're one of the nation's most prominent national retailers, said John C. White, NAACP spokesman. However, the group does not plan to picket or leaflet Target, but will rely on word of mouth, he said. A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company opted out of the survey "because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group." The NAACP survey asks only about blacks. She added that minorities make up 40 percent of Target employees and 23 percent of all officials and managers. During his keynote address, Gordon said black Americans should end their "victim-like thinking" and seize opportunities to help close gaps between the nation's rich and poor. "We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it." |
| Posted by:Sholuth Flotch4186 |
| #13 Gordon called on blacks to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP's questions - though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott. "They didn't even care to respond to our survey," he said. "Stay out of their stores." Shoplift somewhere else. |
| Posted by: allanakhbar 2006-07-18 17:07 |
| #12 Oh, and their name. What kind of response would whitey get if he referred to his fellow citizens as 'colored' these days? Could you imaging if the article had been typed up with 'colored' instead of 'black' in the narrative? Yet they still haven't gotten around to changing the very name they call themselves. Another, one set of rules for us and ... |
| Posted by: Thrainter Hupinenter1535 2006-07-18 16:54 |
| #11 FWIT: the local area Target stores refuse to allow the USMCR Toys for Tots collection and Salvation Army to set up at Christmas. I only visit the stores when I feel the need for a rest stop. |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2006-07-18 14:36 |
| #10 I simply cannot fathom people whose sense of identity is entirely focused on the color of their skin. This is the antithesis of MLK's dream that men would not be "judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". Yet these clowns persist. I also find it laughable that they preached against "victim-like thinking" and in the same breath claimed to be victims. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-07-18 14:05 |
| #9 Seething, angry, and biting the hands that feed..... Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter Corporate Communications 1955 Monroe Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30324 404-876-3302 FAX: 404-575-3082 "FRIENDS" EVENTS PLANNED TO PROMOTE $1 MILLION NATIONAL CONTRIBUTION FROM TARGET IN CONNECTION WITH ITS "FRIENDS PARTY PACK" ATLANTA – The national American Red Cross has received a $1 million contribution from Target Stores in connection with the new Warner Home Video Friends Party Pack, available exclusively in Target stores nationwide to helps Friends fans across the country celebrate the May 6th series finale on NBC. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-07-18 13:39 |
| #8 The UN and the NAACP are two organizations that have long outlived their usefulness, assuming they ever had any use in the first place. I mean, really, isn't "colored people" just a bit passe in the age of "rap niggaz?" |
| Posted by: mac 2006-07-18 10:42 |
| #7 lol, Frank, I need to purchase some screen cleaning spray after that one. Ah well, guess I'll go to Target after work to pick it up. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-07-18 10:36 |
| #6 there goes the huge fan base for the NASCAR Target race car....damn |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-18 10:26 |
| #5 wooops, meant to mention that my County swayed for GW Bush in 2004 by largest % of any GA county, and that includes the other very conservative county of Cobb (home of Bob Barr and Newt Gengrich). |
| Posted by: BA 2006-07-18 10:08 |
| #4 I'm beginning to think we're turning the tide on these shakedown artists. Heck, my own middle-class cul-de-sac shows more REAL diversity than you could shake a stick at...my two immediate neighbors are black and Mexican, both married couples with 1 kid each. Across the cul-de-sac we have a married Asian (Chinese) couple with 3 girls. On the other side of my immediate neighbor, we have 2 married couples from Bosnia who've just moved in with 2 boys. And, what do I see during the week? ALL of these kids playing together. And, this is in the "deep South" outside of Atlanta. As all of these "groups" move up the economic ladder into the middle class, they're shedding their "groupthink" mindset of being the constant victim and making things work day to day. They all have the same concerns I do...cost of gas, keeping the good job they have, cutting the yard, going to Target/Wal-Mart, etc. Maybe, I'm being optimistic, but as this true melting pot continues to happen, I can't help but think they'll sway more toward the Republicans. We'll know more after November, but my County alone is now majority-minority (not just blacks, but huge groups of Bosnians, Hispanics, Asians, etc.) and yet, we appear to ALL shop at Target. And, seeing as how only 4,000 showed up to the NAACP Nat'l Convention, that gives me hope too (the MSM may have inflated that # too). |
| Posted by: BA 2006-07-18 10:07 |
| #3 A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company opted out of the survey "because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group." Looks like I'm going to be doing more shopping at Target. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-07-18 09:14 |
| #2 No, the turf's been divided. Jesse gets Wal*Mart and NAACP gets Target. Regional players are to be fought out (figuratively of course) on a market by market basis. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-18 09:11 |
| #1 Cutting in on Jesse's shakedown action? He ain't gonna like that... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-07-18 08:44 |