So, Andrew Young stands up for WalMart - how bizarre.

[Rabrrrrrr]

Has he jumped the shark?

60 faither leaders, including John Thomas, President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ (the denomination that Young belongs to and is ordained in), wrote a letter condeming Andrew's involvement as a spokesperson for WalMart.

Andrew then fires out an open letter of rebuttal, claiming that WalMart is doing more to alleviate poverty than any other organization.

I include his letter here, since it's an open letter.

What think ye all? I think Andrew has lost his mind, and the money has clouded his judgment.

Here's an article about it:

http://www.johnhopebryant.com/john_hope_bryant_/2006/04/faith_leaders_l.html

Here's the letter from Andrew:

http://www.johnhopebryant.com/john_hope_bryant_/2006/04/an_open_letter_.html

An Open Letter From Andrew Young

Letter to the General Senate of the United Church of Christ

April 25, 2006

The foundation stone of my ministry has always been the admonition of Jesus in Matthew 25:35, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed Me…In as much as you have done it unto the least of these my Brethren, you have done it to Me.”

Whether as a Pastor, Civil Rights Worker, Labor Organizer, Congressman, U.N. Ambassador, Mayor, Engineering Executive, Olympic Committee Chairman or now as Chairman of Good Works International; my goal and objective has remained the same, “to feed the hungry.”

Our Churches sought to do the same through teaching preaching missions, social and political action. We have always been a leader in progressive movements in faith, action, government and mission. But, I think we may have erred in not paying enough attention to the potentially positive role of business and the corporate multi-national community in seeking solutions to the problems of the poor.

I’ve been one of the 100 million Americans a week that shop at Wal-Mart and long ago decided that lowering prices for consumers was a great contribution to ending impoverished lifestyles. Wal-Mart is not responsible for General Motors lay-offs or $3.00 per gallon gasoline. Wal-Mart has addressed poverty more effectively than any other American institution. That’s far from perfect, but better than failed Government policies and the hypocrisy of union leaders who ignored the poor, Black and Hispanic work force, concentrating instead on the middle class privileges of their members, who incidentally bought into Republican demagoguery about crime, welfare and the poor.

After failing to get the Government to address a social safety net, they are criticizing Wal-Mart for failure to provide when, in actuality, Wal-Mart provides saving for its customers and growing American families. The company saves families $2,300 per year and by shopping at Wal-Mart and the availability of low cost fruits, vegetables, vitamins, medicines and clothing comes as close to a safety net as any we have available in America, except those for teachers and Government employees which are paid by our tax dollars.

I hope we can enter into a serious discussion about these issues and not just assume an outdated knee-jerk reaction. “New occasions, teach new duties; time makes ancient good uncouth. They must upward then and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.”

Remember, “God is still speaking” – economically, educationally, socially and politically!



Sincerely,

Andrew Young

April 26, 2006

[murielm99]

1. He certainly HAS jumped the shark.

They were right to condemn him.

Did you see the movie, Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices? If so, did you notice how many Christian pastors and leaders were involved in getting justice for workers, and keeping Walmart out of their communities? They have the right idea. Walmart is evil, greedy and undemocratic.

[REP]

2. I Wonder What Low, Low Price He Sold His Soul For

I'm trying to get the stink of this passage out of my nose:

I’ve been one of the 100 million Americans a week that shop at Wal-Mart and long ago decided that lowering prices for consumers was a great contribution to ending impoverished lifestyles. Wal-Mart is not responsible for General Motors lay-offs or $3.00 per gallon gasoline. Wal-Mart has addressed poverty more effectively than any other American institution. That’s far from perfect, but better than failed Government policies and the hypocrisy of union leaders who ignored the poor, Black and Hispanic work force, concentrating instead on the middle class privileges of their members, who incidentally bought into Republican demagoguery about crime, welfare and the poor.

Yeah, and by paying as little as possible (or not at all, such as when workers were locked in after their shifts to complete work off the clock), WalMart is striking some blow that Unions and their insistance on fair wages, fair treatment and fair benefits aren't.

Stick a fork in him - he's done.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Andy was corporate supersized years ago.

They bought him off by putting him on some boards, paid him well, no EXTREMELY well, then co-opted his soul and made him a black puppet. Corporations have targetted people like him for years, putting the right "face" on their greed and avarice.

Another infamous example is Condi Rice. Was it by chance that she was placed on a board so early in life, or that a oil tanker was named after her? Or was it talent? HAH!
Condi, like Andy, was an investment by Big Oil. They nurtured and "developed" her and put her in places.
Pity that every single thing that she touches falls apart and that she is nowhere as bright as her spinners make her out to be. You put Madeline and Condi in a debate and you will see just how clueless Condi is But reason, ability and talent no longer matter. She is the culmination of years of pay-offs and investments by big oil. And now she is paying them back. Haliburton, 75 bucks a barrel and lowered environmental standards? THis was an accident? Nope. It is the payoff on their longterm investment.
Same with Andy.

[marmar]

4. Rev. Lowry jumped on his case this week...

Asking him how he could whore (he didn't say whore - my word) for Wal-Mart given their abuse of workers?

[acmejack]

5. Credibility=zero

It is always sad to see someone who was once respected go to the dark side.

[Peace Patriot]

6. I first met Andy Young when I was a young civil rights worker in Georgia

and Alabama in 1965. I was one of the "northern students" who flooded the South that year to help with Martin Luther King's voter registration campaign. In the previous summer, three civil rights workers had been murdered in Mississippi, and one of the purposes of those of us who joined the campaign the following summer was to "widen the target." It was a dangerous time. The integrity of American democracy was at issue: would all of our citizens be included in our democracy, or only its white ones? In 1965, it was inconceivable--to me, anyway--that, within a few years of that blood-drenched voter registration drive, black sheriffs and black mayors would start being elected all over the South, and that the idea of excluding black citizens from education and opportunity, from voting, and from equal rights, would become unthinkable--would quickly become a bizarre artifact of the past. Even though we had examples of equality on TV by then--for instance, the Bill Cosby character in "I Spy" an equal to his white counterpart, and the Nichelle Nichols character in Star Trek (Communications Officer Uhuru)--I thought it would be a hundred years before someone like Andy Young--our mentor in the student voter registration group--could become mayor of a city, and, later, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

I am proud of what we, the students of America, did in that era, and to this day, I stand in awe of the courage of the black citizens of George and Alabama that I met during that campaign.

Fast forward--forty years later. I'm following the Senate deliberations on George Bush's nominee for Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice--a black woman who was playing the piano during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and one of the architects of the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people in Iraq. A willing accomplice to torture and death, and, like Bush, the puppet of the oil companies, whose very obvious goal is to destroy American democracy. On line, on my computer. C-Span. Democratic Senators are speaking out against her and against the heinous war that she helped prosecute. During a break, Andy Young, with two black women leaders, one on each arm, gives an interview to a reporter in the hallway outside the hearings. And here is what they say: how dare the Democrats not support a black woman?

Inside, on the Senate floor, Bush "pod people" like Orin Hatch are calling the antiwar Democrats racists. Outside, Andy Young--of all the people on God's earth--is repeating their insanely twisted argument.

It's difficult for me to criticize Andy Young, because he at one time represented all our hopes and dreams for America. But I was utterly in shock from his playing footsie with the Bush junta, and delivering their diabolical 'black leader' "talking point" on this matter.

I just happened to re-watch the Star Wars trilogy recently. And "beware of the Dark Side" is apt, indeed, when it comes to Andy Young. And I am as sad about it as poor Luke Skywalker, who learns that his father has "died" and become Darth Vader. It is unspeakably disheartening. It sickens the soul. No one--who once faced white Southern bigots and lynchers and murderers with Ghandi's non-violent forbearance--who could say what Andy Young said that day, last year, in "the halls of the power," about the opposition to Rice and her mentor Bush and their dreadful war, can be anything but badly corrupt.

Is that what we did in the '60s--create equal opportunity corruption? Well, I only have to look at John Conyers and Maxine Waters to know that that isn't true. But it springs to mind as a cynical response to the utmost in cynicism: Andy Young calling antiwar Democrats racists because they oppose Chevron's candidate for Secretary of State. And the only defense that he can muster--the only thing that he can say in her favor, and the only thing he thinks we should dwell upon--is that she is a black woman.

Oh, Andy! How sad you are! How far you've fallen! But just remember: even Darth Vader can be redeemed! And wasn't that the point of it all, back then?

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Holy cow! I didn't realize Andrew said that about Rice.

He really has gone to the dark side, then.

Thank you for sharing your story - it is indeed sad what has happened. And I loved your phrase "Chevron's candidate for Secretary of State" <-- beautifully said! :rofl: