Jesse's PUSH Toward a Tanner Rainbow
Many critics have accused Rev. Jesse Jackson of shaking down corporate America to pad his pockets and to achieve his personal agenda. More importantly, many find that Rev. Jackson is involved in so many issues, ranging from providing spiritual guidance to the gloved one, Michael Jackson to taking sides in Terry Schivo's recent controversial life-or-death case that it is sometimes difficult to take him seriously. Even one former corporate vice president in the auto industry once referred privately to Rev. Jackson as a �poverty pimp and an ambulance chaser.� Despite what the executive said privately, at a public gathering hosted by Jackson 's organization, Rainbow/PUSH, this same vice president turned around and gave the organization a sizable check on behalf of his company. Is this hypocrisy on the behalf of corporate America? Or through his actions, is Jackson making corporate America look at itself in a mirror?
Upon a closer examination, many realize that changes need to be made to allow minorites to receive its fair share of capital to create entrepreneurial and job opportunities in this lucrative industry. Unbeknownst to many, Rev. Jesse Jackson has managed to �keep hope alive� by being one of the major engines working toward fueling these changes. Rev. Jackson, a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King, has embodied the economic philosophy of what King eloquently relayed in his last public speech to the Memphis sanitation workers entitled, �I've Been to the Mountaintop.� Rev. Jackson has taken King's message to heart. Jackson has transformed King's words into what Glenda Gill, bureau director of Rainbow/PUSH, refers to �as the last stage of the civil rights movement�--economic freedom.
In this post civil rights era, when Black leaders and organizations have been taken to task on their relevancy, Jackson and his advocacy group have truly managed to keep their feet on the gas. Similar to Harriet Tubman's journeys to escort slaves to freedom through The Underground Railroad, for the past eight years, Rev. Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Project, has been methodically paving a number of roads to a greater economic liberation for minorities. One path they continue to cement is a road to the automotive industry.
Rainbow/PUSH and Minority Consumers
According to Gill, as a result of a report received from Mark Cohen, a professor at Vanderbilt University, detailing predatory automotive lending practices against African-American and Hispanic consumers, Rainbow/PUSH has been one of the leading advocates in the country to raise this issue to a level of public awareness. Several cases involving a number of major financial institutions and captive finance companies (the lending arm of automakers) have recently been settled or they remain in litigation.
To address the issue of discriminatory automotive lending practices at a grassroots level, Jackson 's 1000 Church Financial Literacy Program in partnership with a leading captive finance company has educated over 1 million minority consumers on financing a vehicle.
Rainbow/PUSH Role with Automakers
One of the quickest ways to earn the big bucks and to achieve King's dream of economic freedom is through entrepreneurship. According to a statistical report compiled by the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD), less than 6 percent of the 21,650 new car dealers on record as of January 1, 2004 make-up minority dealers. History shows that most successful dealers are millionaires. Unfortunately, because of capital, limited opportunities and other factors, it can be extremely difficult for minorities to be welcomed to the table or to keep a seat once they have been allowed at the table.
Rev. Jackson has had a hand in furthering the number of minority dealers with automakers by a variety of means. For instance, at a time when Ford Motor Company ( FMC ) had less than 100 minority dealers, Jackson made a personal plea to Phil Benton, once president of FMC , to increase the number. Although General Motors (GM) has more minority dealers today, FMC has more African-American dealers overall. Based on the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD) 2006 statistical report, FMC (this includes Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover) has 343 African-American dealers whereas GM has only 164.
According to a 2005 story featured in Automotive News, a trade magazine for the industry, Chrysler has 316 dealerships owned by minorities, FMC has 364 and GM has 382. Chrysler, FMC and GM were the first three automakers to have dealership organizations designed specifically to aid and address the concerns of minority dealers. more
