Randi Payton
rpayton@onwheelsinc.com
President Barack Obama may be doing a good job of repairing the nation’s economy but behind the scenes his strongest political base is eroding due to major setbacks in corporate diversity. African Americans reached into their pocketbooks to make unprecedented contributions to Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign last year. However, if the current trend of cutting diversity efforts continues, African Americans will not have the resources to financially support the president’s bid for a second term. When there’s the no work, there’s no money.
Thousands of African American small businesses, automotive dealers and suppliers, minority –owned media outlets and their employees are feeling the brunt of the recession. Businesses cannot get loans, corporations are laying off employees at an alarming rate and domestic automakers, the second largest employer of African Americans outside of the federal government, don’t see diversity as a priority during this economic crisis.
Minority car dealers and minority automotive suppliers who had the funds to support President Obama’s first run for the presidency will almost disappear because of the current economic crisis. Automakers have been corporate leaders in diversity for at least a generation. But diversity is not being considered in the restructuring plans of the domestic automotive industry.
Automakers that championed diversity and encouraged their ad agencies to support it, but did not require those same agencies to practice it, are now dropping diversity advertising and marketing altogether or making significant cuts. Corporations are too concerned with their survival to focus on diversity advertising and marketing which should be an essential part of restructuring. However, it has been looked at as affirmative action instead of a need to reach more than 30 percent of American consumers.
Minority dealers and suppliers who represented a huge financial support base for President Obama during his presidential campaign cannot get financing to operate their businesses and they have lost the support of larger companies that cannot get credit themselves. Not only has progress on this front ceased but all these businesses are closing at an alarming rate.
Small minority businesses experienced huge growth; their owners who often used equity in their homes to finance their start-ups can no longer do so and SBA and VA backed financing is frozen. The banks simply will not loan, although the Obama Administration has pumped money into them to free up the secondary finance markets. Banks either don’t have the cash or they are using the federal money to generate interest payments and to repay the government to escape federal oversight. But small minority-owned businesses have been left out of this equation.
African American employees, who were making inroads into upper management positions when diversity was a corporate priority, are now the first to be cut during tough times. Their input was never really valued; even those who have proven track records of success.
One 30-year senior executive at General Motors told me that this is the worse time that she has ever seen for diversity. Progress in that area is quietly being set-back. President Obama needs to appoint a diversity czar to protect the interests of minority consumers.
Other black politicians as well as President Obama should also be worried because they all need financially healthy voters to support their political campaigns. The ultra conservatives have yet another trick up their sleeve to destroy the economic base of minority consumers. They have one goal in mind – force the domestic automakers into bankruptcy and destroy the unions and the middle class. The current trend is having a devastating impact on African American middle class workers and it would make it difficult for all African American office seekers and incumbents, not just the president, to get future financial support from the black community.
Randi Payton is the CEO & President of On Wheels Media, which publishes African Americans On Wheels, Latinos On Wheels and the www.onwheelsinc.com web site. On Wheels will launch DECISIVE magazines and web hub summer of 2009, a consumer media to help consumer in multicultural market make decision on products and services. Get free digital copies of On Wheels magazines at www.onwheelsinc.com
While I am here, I think I'll post a letter that I sent to our president a couple of weeks ago.
*****
Dear President Obama,I have advocated for the inclusion of all for many years. My simple mantra of inclusion has been "Everyone is Included...All People, All Places, All Ways."Last year, I followed your presidential campaign injecting some thoughts relating to my vision and efforts into it. I was so pleased to see them applied here and there and have the overall spirit of my work embraced.I am writing to you today, Mr. President, to let you know that I am now seeing inclusion at work within your administration.Keep it up.Keep widening the circle of inclusion within our great democracy. Keep giving voice and opportunity to all. Keep striving to help and serve all Americans.Indeed, keep it up, for, if you do...and do so in a positive, constructive, flexible manner applying our core, most sacred, high founding values in the process...then all of us will benefit greatly.Keep it up, for, goodness gracious, Barack, in my view, you have an opportunity to create an extraordinary template for use by all future administrations...a modus operandi that will enable our America to become the best it can possibly be.Keep it up.May God bless and be with you in your presidency.Sincerely yours,Ed RosenBergwww.everyoneisincluded.us
We have long, hard work ahead of us before people stop being afraid of a diverse USA that is unified in their desire to rebuild America's moral standing in the wold and through that, it's wealth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk is more popular than are videos of Barack Obama. Think about that and do something about it!
Henry M
KCUF, 128 Kb/s on Shoutcast Unlimited: http://tinyurl.com/kcuf-on-shoutcast-limited/ to play, http://www.urdomain.us/playing.html to see what's playing, and now available on RECIVA Internet-Radio receivers, http://tinyurl.com/kcuf-on-reciva
KCUF can now be listened to using a Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget: http://gallery.live.com/results.aspx?bt=1&q=KCUF
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed and adopted by the UN General Assembly sixty years ago. Regardless of race, religion, or nationality, all men and women, everywhere in the world, are entitled to the human rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in it's thirty articles. Since it's adoption in 1948 the declaration has been and continues to be a source of inspiration for national and international efforts to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Build community by promoting the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...to promote cultural diversity as well as the desire for global cooperation and dialogue between different cultures; Unity and Diversity.
http://www.unesco-club-vienna.org/ ...The UNESCO Clubs movement has developed hand-in-hand with UNESCO since the establishment of the first club in Sendai, Japan, on 19 July 1947.
The Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy, Central Africa Republic
Let us hope the new year and the concept of inclusion bring us similar good news from other areas of conflict and disarray around the globe.
Happy New Year, Folks!
Everyone is Included...All People, All Places, All Ways
(Note: I am going to take a couple of days off. I will return this weekend.)
"A peaceful world is an inclusive world."
Judith Umbach
I believe this to be so. In 2009, I, sincerely, hope we see Mr. Obama and all of our nation's and world's leaders on all levels embrace this notion and strive to build an inclusive world so that peace comes to all within our human family.
Gerry Adams, President, Sinn Fein
There have been more than a few calls for a fully inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders not only as it relates to the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis, but the entire Middle East. These calls have come from both within and outside the region. This has not happened yet. Perhaps, though, the Obama Administration will add its voice and, hopefully, be the catalyst to bring all to the table in the hopes of creating stability and building a lasting peace for the entire region.
By the way, in recent years, Gerry Adams and other Northern Ireland leaders have been global advocates for inclusive dialogue. They understand its value.
(Note: My computer/internet issues appear to have been resolved. Life is good.)
"Inclusiveness is better than judgmental polarization."
John Brummet
(Note: It appears as if things are improving as far as my internet situation goes. When I can get into my website to edit it, then all will be well.)
Improving the United States' image in the Middle East
The choice of meal companions was a form of social exclusion. People ate with their own group. Elites ate with elites and peasants ate with peasants.
It is instructive to focus on the Pharisees. They certainly were Jesus' opponents but I would suggest they were not intrinsically bad people. Instead they lived in a manner that they thought would please God.
The book of Leviticus in the Torah contains a long list of rules to become "pure" and to maintain that purity. The code for the priests while officiating in the Temple was of a higher degree of purity than for the ordinary Israelite, and the Pharisees adhered to that strict practice. In fact, they called all Israel to become observant of that utmost degree of purity.
And, of course, the Pharisees would only eat with others who were keeping those strict laws of purity.
The Essenes, those who collected the Dead Sea Scrolls, restricted their meal companions to only those who had completed a rigorous training period for novices.
So, along comes the historical Jesus who invites all sorts of people to his table. He shared meals with tax collectors and prostitutes, as well as respectable, even wealthy, citizens. Is it any wonder that people were shocked? Jesus' inclusivity was a scandal."
Bill Linden, Theologian, Author
David Brown, The British Computer Society's APM Group IT Trainer of the Year
"The future of financial inclusion lies in moving microfinance beyond credit, offering the working poor the basic suite of financial tools that we take for granted."
Monica Brand, ACCION International
Everyone is Included...All People, All Places, all Ways
(Note: Inclusion has many forms...hmmm, a hub from which many spokes radiate. Check this out.)
After having experienced such phenomenon in the recent past, wisdom would demand that our Constituent Assembly members act fast and do not waste time, as they have been doing under one pretext or the other, and draft a new constitution that is inclusive in both nature and content; that embraces all the sections of the society; allows the population to live a secured life with dignity and facilitates even one single individual to become a part of the society and the nation at large. Let the people participate in the mainstream politics. If done so the system will last long."
N.P.Upadhyaya, Nepal
Koichi Morita, Japan's Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Dogu Ergil, Columnist
"I think it is time to close this issue (Rev. Warren), and concentrate on building a new, positive society of unity, compassion where all people are included."
Torgny
Well, folks, those here to applaud or decry the choice of Rev. Warren are, indeed...here.
Included.
Yay or nay, for better or worse...
I commend the Obama/Biden Campaign for this and, sincerely, hope something good for America comes from the discussion relating to the Warren issue...as I hope this spirit of inclusion continues.
Linda Douglass, Obama Spokeswoman
Everyone is Included....All People, All Places, All Ways
“This administration is about inclusion and not about exclusion.
The basic foundation of his (Barack Obama) philosophy is that too many people have been excluded for too long; the special interest groups and the lobbyists have dominated Washington. And as a result, the voices of every day people have been drowned out. And this grassroots campaign has been about reengaging the American people. And so there’s room for everyone at the table.”
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor, President-elect Barack Obama
Yes, indeed.
I hope, though, as we move forward, that we, the people, understand that, while we do have a seat at the table...that we are all included, decisions must be made.
p.s. Thanks, Lisa, for wanting to be my friend. You have brightened my day, my dear.
