Commentary

Some of you may recall, “Boo Hoo – No Tears Here for Auto Manufacturers,” my October 23, 2023, response to the Wall Street Journal editorial board’s opinion piece, “The Auto Makers Cry for EV Mercy.

Biden the Shakedown Artist

For years I had been critical of automaker CEO’s for giving up on free enterprise and the ability of the customer to decide the cars and trucks they preferred and caved to the Biden administration’s green EV mandate.

As a result, dealers were stuck with EVs on their lots that nobody wanted, and the companies chalked losses in the billions.  A lot of good it did Ford to have Biden photographed in the new F-150 Lightning electric truck.

But for years before Biden & Co., CEOs caved to Café standards on miles per gallon.

Henry Ford, who made cars affordable to the middle class, would be aghast to see how the mighty auto industry had gone weak-kneed.

The Pompous Reverend Sharpton

The Reverend Al Sharpton represents another form of shakedown artistry.

The founder of the National Action Network in 1991, he can be counted on to surface at any event that he can blame on racism.  NAN’s motto is a provocative, “No Justice, no peace.”

Earlier this week, he and about 100 of his followers descended on an east Harlem Costco in response to the Trump administration’s ridding government of DEI initiatives, acknowledging that DEI hiring is a practice of illegal discrimination.

It is assumed that Costco, like many corporations that have already cut DEI initiatives, planned to do so too, before the NAN boycott threat.  Sharpton indicated that NAN is now compiling a list of companies that have abandoned DEI.

I don’t believe the average American understands that DEI not only covered government hiring, but any company seeking to get government contract work was also required to have a DEI program.  That’s what has held up a number of infrastructure jobs, programs like the EV charging stations.

Johnson & Johnson, Anheuser-Busch, Colgate-Palmolive, Comcast, Pfizer and Home Depot are among NAN’s corporate sponsors.  GM, American Honda and then Daimler Chrysler all caved after boycott threats.  Ford is a NAN sponsor although no threats have been reported.

PepsiCo represents one of Sharpton’s successful shakedowns.  In 1998 Sharpton complained that PepsiCo didn’t feature African Americans in its commercials of Pepsi products, including Frito Lay, Tropicana and Quaker Oats.  Although a boycott never took place, PepsiCo hired Sharpton as a consultant for $25,000 a year and put him on its African American advisory board, where he served until 2007.  Magically, in 1909, NAN proudly gave its Corporate Excellence Awarded to Maurice Cox, PepsiCo’s vice president for Diversity and Inclusion Development.

“What is pathetic is the gutless, ill-informed and misguided businessmen and businesswomen, from all walks of American life, who are ready to cave to race blackmail at the drop of a hat, “ wrote African American syndicated columnist Star Parker.

Jesse Jackson as Shakedown Artist

In 1971, Jackson made a name for himself as an advocate of civil rights, social justice and equality, but more so as a shakedown artist for the Rainbow/Push Coalition.

If you were to put the list of companies Jackson was able to list as “Corporate Partners,” next to the Fortune 500 you would note his success as a shakedown artist. – Ford, GM, McDonald’s and Boeing to name a few.

In 2022, GM was proud to be graded as a top performer and published in GM Authority, an automotive diversity scorecard showing how they scored highest in five of the six categories.

A Trio of Shakedown Artists

In 2013, three radical black organizers – Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi – created Black Lives Matter, a political movement, in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman.  Later, with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, BLM got a boost in coverage and support.

BLM’s focus is on addressing racism and discrimination they claim black people sill face, along with anti-black violence by police brutality.

Among companies who have supported BLM are Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Target.

While BLM brought in donations of $12 billion by 2023, support has since decreased.  Cullors has left the organization and has been linked to the purchases of four high-priced properties.

I understand stockholders in many corporations are requiring boards to examine shakedown actions and payments.  It’s about time.

May God continue to bless the Unites States of America.