Andy Young is forced to fall on his sword
ATLANTA — Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart improve its public image, says he is 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, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February to help improve Wal-Mart’s image. But he now says he was becoming part of the controversy and didn’t want to be a distraction from the issues.
The decision came after a report in the Los Angeles Sentinel, which Young says 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.
Young replied “Well, I think they should; 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.”
Young, who has apologized for the remarks, says he decided to end his involvement with Working Families for Wal-Mart after he started getting calls about the story. 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.
