… that you would have former UN Ambassador, Atlanta mayor and long-time civil rights leader Andrew Young saying this about Wal-Mart replacing mom-and-pop stores:
“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.”
while former presidential candidate and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton saying this:
“We have got to get out of this gangster mentality, acting as if gangsterism and blackness are synonymous. I think we’ve allowed a whole generation of young people to feel that if they’re focused, they’re not black enough. If they speak well and act well, they’re acting white, and there’s nothing more racist than that.”
Young, 74, has apologized for his remarks and has resigned his position with Wal-Mart.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
GOOD LORD! While he was trying to make a point, he certainly was side-tracked a little….
“First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs; very few black people own these stores.”
Good things he can’t be a racist, eh vivian?
Vivian:
I’m with you in being disappointed in Ambassador Young. But, I’m not sure that I would call his statement of contrition a sincere “apology”, certainly not if we are to use the nature of the apologies being demanded from George Allen and Mel Gibson in similar circumstances. More on my blog, On Andrew Young.
Claire