<font size="5"><center>Andrew Young Steps Down From Wal-Mart</font size>
<font size="4">Wal-Mart should force some smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close
... "they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," ...
"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."</font size></center>
Washington Post
By BERNARD McGHEE
The Associated Press
Friday, August 18, 2006; 9:52 AM
ATLANTA -- Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was stepping down from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.
Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February.
"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, once a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said his decision to step down followed a report in the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.
In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was 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, who has apologized for the remarks, 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 also said working with the group "was also taking more of my time than I thought."
Reading from a statement, Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said Friday that the company supported Young's decision to resign and that Young's comments do not reflect Wal-Mart's views.
"We are appalled by those comments," Simley said. "We are also dismayed that they would come from someone who has worked so hard for so many years for equal rights in this country."
Simley declined to comment on how the situation might affect Working Families for Wal-Mart.
The remarks surprised Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who pointed to Young's reputation of civil rights work.
"If anyone should know that these are the words of bigotry, anti-Semitism and prejudice, it's him," Hier said. "I know he apologized, but I would say this, ... during his years as a leader of the national civil rights movement, if anyone would utter remarks like this about African-Americans his voice would be the first to rise in indignation."
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.
___
Associated Press Writer Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800096.html?referrer=email
<font size="4">Wal-Mart should force some smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close
... "they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," ...
"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."</font size></center>
Washington Post
By BERNARD McGHEE
The Associated Press
Friday, August 18, 2006; 9:52 AM
ATLANTA -- Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was stepping down from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.
Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February.
"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, once a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said his decision to step down followed a report in the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.
In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was 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, who has apologized for the remarks, 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 also said working with the group "was also taking more of my time than I thought."
Reading from a statement, Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said Friday that the company supported Young's decision to resign and that Young's comments do not reflect Wal-Mart's views.
"We are appalled by those comments," Simley said. "We are also dismayed that they would come from someone who has worked so hard for so many years for equal rights in this country."
Simley declined to comment on how the situation might affect Working Families for Wal-Mart.
The remarks surprised Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who pointed to Young's reputation of civil rights work.
"If anyone should know that these are the words of bigotry, anti-Semitism and prejudice, it's him," Hier said. "I know he apologized, but I would say this, ... during his years as a leader of the national civil rights movement, if anyone would utter remarks like this about African-Americans his voice would be the first to rise in indignation."
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.
___
Associated Press Writer Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800096.html?referrer=email
dude is old as fuck and is trippin
an insult from an attorney? 
