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NAACP REPORT CARD RESULTS ARE IN: Group's president urges blacks to avoid some firms
*Since 1997, the NAACP has provided a report card that grades corporations on how well they work with blacks in employment, charitable giving, advertising, contracting and community service. This year, the civil rights group focused on telecommunications, lodging, finance, retail and auto industries.
The companies that actually work with minority-owned businesses barely spend five percent of their contracting dollars with them, the NAACP president, Bruce S. Gordon said Monday when the organization released report cards on several industries.
"If corporations spend their money on us, we'll spend our money with those corporations," he said. "It's real simple.
Gordon made these comments as part of his first keynote convention speech as head of the NAACP. He took over as president last August. Gordon said the contracting numbers were "totally unacceptable."
As a former division president at Verizon, Gordon brings a perspective that is beneficially informative and very much needed.
"I have a pretty unique perspective -- 35 years working for a corporation with a purchasing budget in the billions and billions of dollars, and a chance to observe internally how the procurement process works," he said.
Of the 50 companies contacted by the NAACP, five ignored the survey. Those corporations include: Dillard's Inc.; Kohl's Corp.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; and Target Corp. All were given an “F” for not answering. The other company that failed to answer was Excel, a telecommunications company which also received an F.
For the second straight year, Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. received the highest grade of all -- a 3.5 out of a possible 4.0. Valencia I. Adams, a BellSouth vice president said the company pushes its managers to look for vendors and employees who are black.
Wachovia Corp. and SunTrust Banks ranked highest amongst banks with a 3.17 score. Wachovia received a perfect score on community relations.
G. Dewey Norwood Jr., an assistant vice president said the company pays all employees to donate four hours a month to local charities, and employees volunteered for 650,000 hours in 2005.
Gordon gave blacks the task to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP's questions -- though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott.
"They didn't even care to respond to our survey," he said. "Stay out of their stores."
Special focus was put on Target by the civil rights organization because they're one of the nation's most prominent national retailers, said John C. White, NAACP spokesman. However, the group does not plan to picket or leaflet Target, but will rely on word of mouth, he said.
A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company did not respond to the survey "because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group." The NAACP survey asks exclusively about blacks.
She added that minorities make up 40 percent of Target employees and 23 percent of all officials and managers.
Gordon went on to say during his keynote address, that blacks should end their "victim-like thinking" and take advantage of opportunities to help close the gaps between the nation's rich and poor.
“We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it."
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