Civil rights leader, former UN ambassador and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young resigned his post at Wal-Mart after he told the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African-American newspaper, that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had “ripped off” urban communities by selling residents “stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables.”
“You see those are the people who have been overcharging us,” he said of the owners of the small stores, “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.”
Ice Cube would be proud.
14 Comments
After the Arabs whose turn will it be next?
Wow. Somehow, I don’t think this is exactly the angle Wal-Mart is looking for for its new advertising campaign… “Wal-Mart: Stop getting ripped off by the Jews, Koreans, and Arabs”.
This guy should really be ashamed.
The remarks are despicable. But there is a very good point here: Be careful not to over-romanticize the corner Mom and Pop store.
What shameful remarks. Immigrant shopowners are often the only ones willing to do business in high-crime low-SES neighborhoods.
One need not romanticize small, independent businesses, but one can make wise consumer choices. I buy my produce directly from a local farmer. It may or may not cost more than at Walmart, but a fresh green pepper picked yesterday contains a lot more vitamin C and a lot less pesticide than one that’s been trucked in from California factory farm. I miss terribly the weekend farmers’ market in the town where I used to live - three kinds of kale, six types of garlic, broccoli rabe, patty pan squash (summer squash shaped like a flying saucer)fresh herbs, freshly ground whole wheat flour, omega-3 loaded eggs from barnyard chickens allowed to forage from nature…sigh.
I shop at Wal-Mart, but I sure wouldn’t buy my produce there.
Korean green grocers I know keep very, very tidy shops.
I’m not sure how related this is, but in my town there is a motel with a huge sign boasting “American owned and operated.” I find the message offensive. Yeah, the Gujarati motel owners down the road weren’t born in America and might not speak English with a southern drawl, but they live and spend money in our community.
Explaining his comments about Koreans, Jews and Arabs, Mr. Young said he was referring to the history of retail ownership in the neighborhood where he lives in southwestern Atlanta. “Almost everyone who has come into my community has moved in, made money and moved out and moved up,” he said. “That process is still continuing.”
Geeeeeeezus f*****kn Christ. 74 years old. What a waste.
“Almost everyone who has come into my community has moved in, made money and moved out and moved up,” he said. “That process is still continuing.”
isn’t that the american dream? small business is the backbone of the economy. so, is he saying for the sake of the black community, individual business owners should try not to move up? actually, it’s not that these groups are doing this on their own free will. it’s the workings of the “man.”
Ahh, you don’t live in New York City, then.
I think the former Mayor doesn’t understand economics. Furthermore, many shop owners who went into such neighborhoods actually ended up dying earlier than they wished. For them, the risk materialized into death.
True, these people in poor neighborhoods don’t really have the option of shopping at a more affluent suburb or shop at a farmer’s market. That costs money, too. You have to drive and come back, plus, I don’t think farmer’s markets ever come to the kind of places the mayor refers to.
In the end, it’s sort of like paying more for stuff at the mall, because some idiot decides that shop lifting is harmless.
I personally know of several Korean families who lost their heads of households, in basically a rob and gun-down at their local shops in neighborhoods you wouldn’t want to visit.
Instead of scapegoating those groups that are willing to risk their lives and capital in low-income/high-crime neighborhoods, perhaps Young ought to put his money where his mouth is. I’m sure there are plenty of blacks in ghettos all over America that would be glad to take out personal loans from Young in order to open their own grocery stores in the hood.
That way, Young could sleep better at night knowing that the bad meat, stale bread, and wilted vegetables are being sold by his brothers and sisters, and that blacks are being ripped off by blacks.
As Young clarified: “It never should have been said. I was speaking in the context of Atlanta, and that does not work in New York or Los Angeles.”
Oh - okay, got it, Andy. So, is it Walmart who’s ripping the foks off in those cities, then?
You know the world is going down the toilet if people stop blaming the whiteys.