Word: wal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...employing illegal immigrants--not to mention the knock, vehemently disputed by the company, of being a low payer. But recently one of America's most embattled corporations has found an ally in one of America's most embattled demographics. No longer content to let its profits do the talking, Wal-Mart is trying to remake its image, in some measure with the aid of inner-city African Americans. The math is simple: Wal-Mart offers stores and jobs to poor black communities that are hemorrhaging both. Meanwhile, those communities extol the virtues of Wal-Mart, offering a buffer against...
Beyond that local effort, Wal-Mart has taken its romance national, setting up scholarships for minorities, donating to the United Negro College Fund and writing checks for several black Congressmen. Patronage has its benefits. In May Black Enterprise, the venerable periodical of Afro-America's business class, announced that Wal-Mart would be a sponsor of its 10th Annual Entrepreneur's Conference. In its June issue, Black Enterprise listed its "30 Best Companies for Diversity." Guess who made...
...Wal-Mart's move into the inner city has set off a debate in the black community about economic development. Traditional activists see the company as a corporate parasite. "Desperate people do desperate things. People would rather have a supermarket than not," says Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is headquartered in Chicago. "But the point is that employment and development must go hand in hand. We need work where you can have a livable wage and health insurance, and retirement...
...even come on the West Side," says Melvin Bailey, a local activist. "You'll hear a saying around here, and that is that a little bit of something is better than a lot of nothing." Denise Carter, 63, who lives in West Chicago and is disabled and retired, sees Wal-Mart as a salvation. "I'm happy Wal-Mart is coming," she says. "We need more bargains, and we need more jobs. I'm hoping I can take my grandson and granddaughter up there...
With a site on Chicago's West Side, in the impoverished Austin neighborhood, Wal-Mart has improved its score in the inner-city market. Last year Wal-Mart tried to put two stores in Chicago, both in black neighborhoods--one in Austin and another on the South Side, in more middle-class Chatham. The middle-class community, less desperate for the jobs, voted against the Wal-Mart store. The outcome in some ways duplicated Wal-Mart's split decision in California, where it lost a bid to open in Inglewood in Los Angeles County but succeeded in Oakland. Wal-Mart...