Jesse Jackson shakesdown British Petrolium!

mike · #1 06-19-2006, 06:54 AM

Jessee Jackson has started his next shakedown campaign and his newest target is BP. I guess it is time for Europe to feel the pain of Jesse Jackson. I am glad we finally exported Jesse.

Quote:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition have targeted oil giant British Petroleum in their latest high-dollar shakedown, an organization that monitors corporate ethics said Thursday.

Despite the fact that BP was a "Bronze Sponsor" of the Coalition's 35th annual conference held this week in Chicago, Jackson announced that he was returning the company's $10,000 donation as part of a boycott to demand greater minority involvement in the corporation's business practices.

Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) was not impressed with Jackson's gesture.

"It is pretty obvious what is going on here," Flaherty stated. "BP sponsors Jesse Jackson's conference at the $10,000 level, but the company is certainly capable of a lot more. No doubt, Jackson seeks to upgrade them to the $150,000 'Platinum Sponsor' level for next year.

"Jesse Jackson is bluffing a foreign company," Flaherty noted. "He has virtually no ability to affect the consumer habits of Americans, or even African-Americans.

"The reason he is going after BP is the same reason he threatened a boycott of Toyota in 2001," Flaherty said. "Executives of foreign companies are often under the misimpression that Jesse Jackson still commands wide respect in this country."

Jackson claims that while British Petroleum gets 30 percent of the money African-Americans spend on gas, BP has few minorities in executive positions and few African-American distributors. In addition, fewer than 20 of its 13,000 retail stations in the United States are owned by blacks.

sejongeb · #2 06-19-2006, 02:05 PM

I guess Jesse's recovered form his scandal and wnats back in the spotlight.

Doutdes · #3 06-19-2006, 03:39 PM

Quote:

In addition, fewer than 20 of its 13,000 retail stations in the United States are owned by blacks.

I'm sure that Jesse Jackson has his own interests in mind, but 20 out of 13,000. That's an awfully low amount and I'm sure the number will be increased by the end of the boycott. As a matter of principle, Jackson shouldn't accept any greater amount of money than the $10,000 originally donated to his coalition after the issue is resolved. However, I doubt that will happen or that it would make the press if it did.

mike · #4 06-19-2006, 06:25 PM

Quote:

I'm sure that Jesse Jackson has his own interests in mind, but 20 out of 13,000. That's an awfully low amount and I'm sure the number will be increased by the end of the boycott.

I agree. The problem I have with Jesse Jackson is that he typically goes by statistics alone.

Should I shakedown the NBA because they don't have enough short, white guys? Or how about the NHL because they don't have enough black men?

If Jesse Jackson can prove that there was a lot of qualified, African-Americans that applied for management positions, but were not hired, then I would be the first to back him. In the NBA and NHL, people of talent are hired. Hopefully, that is true for BP as well.

I honestly believe that businesses that discriminate typically go out of business eventually. If you don't hire talent because of race, your competitor surely will. If Company A continues to hire incompetent white guys and their competitors hire the talenteded minorities and women, company A will eventually go out of business.

Doutdes · #5 06-20-2006, 01:53 AM

Quote:

If Jesse Jackson can prove that there was a lot of qualified, African-Americans that applied for management positions, but were not hired, then I would be the first to back him. In the NBA and NHL, people of talent are hired. Hopefully, that is true for BP as well.

I think your standard of evidence is so high that it would be impossible to cite racism in corporate policy. Evidence of racist corporate policy (which is not the same as blatant, conscious racism) can be found with simple statistics. If other national gasoline companies have more black owned stations or black run stations, it begs the question why doesn't BP?

Quote:

I honestly believe that businesses that discriminate typically go out of business eventually. If you don't hire talent because of race, your competitor surely will. If Company A continues to hire incompetent white guys and their competitors hire the talenteded minorities and women, company A will eventually go out of business.

Eventually...

It may take a hundred years, but the market will solve our problems. I don't think that you're seriously looking at capitalism or racism within an industry. Company A isn't choosing between incompetent white people or competent black people. They can remain an exclusively white company and remain quite competent. They can also maintain their market share. However, the emerging markets may prove tricky.

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