Dishonor the self and others will too
“The only thing I can do,” Mr. Young said last night before he resigned, “is to ask that people judge me about a life of working together with people who are different and bringing people together without violence and without rancor. I would hope that would count for something.”
It does count for something. Your civil rights work and UN work has won you a place in the history books. But just like Joe Lieberman’s record of support for people, there’s always going to be an asterisk next to your name.
Do retailers exploit the poor? Many do. Do they avoid investing in local communities? Again, many do. But some don’t. And the ones who do should be criticized for their greed and exploitation because it’s their deeds that hurt. It’s not their ethnicity or nationality or religion that compels their actions.
You, of all people, should know that, Mr. Young. And it further smacks of hypocrisy that you chose to be a spokesperson for a people exploiter like WalMart. That especially makes your complaints ring hollow.
You made the history book Hall of Fame, Ambassador Young. But it seems you let the content of your wallet rob it of the sheen it once held. So the only question that leaves is ‘what are you going to do with the rest of your life?’
August 18th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Although it certainly wouldn’t excuse what Mr. Young said, one has to wonder if his words merely echoed something he had heard from his paymaster.
August 18th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Kevin,
I can’t let this pass without comment. I lived in Atlanta during the period Andy Young was mayor and I’ve got to say that he was mostly disassociated from the needs of the city as well as the needs of his constituents. I lived and worked in mid-town Atlanta (and I still miss it after having moved away in 1989), but I never thought that Andy Young was engaged with those who voted for him. Maynard Jackson was another matter and I had a huge amount of respect for him which Young never earned. When Andy Young became a paid shill for Wal-Mart I was saddened, but I was not surprised. I respect Andy for what he did in the early years of the civil rights movement, but he has lost a huge amount of stature in the past few months.
This comment is from a rapidly aging white male who happens to be a child of the south and one who remembers, and lived, the struggle of the sixties from both sides.
I am sad for Andy and for what he has let himself become!
August 18th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Fred, I didn’t live there, but this is certainly not the first time Young has demonstrated less than stellar actions.
As one who felt deeply that non-materialism was an important principle to live by (which arose from my Sixties upbringing - I remember how many went on to yuppified lives and my feeling back then that so many sold out.
I’m less judgmental now, with maturity. Yet I did wonder if my vote for Kerry was for a Kerry who no longer exists.Likewise, I feel the same about Young and several others. Have they forgotten the folks they passed on the way up?
I don’t think Carter did, nor Mondale, nor Maxine Waters, nor John Edwards, nor John Lewis, nor Dolores Huerta, etc.
We shall overcome only when we first overcome ourselves.