|
The Blade and Taylor Cadillac, Kia and Hyundai continue to
play hardball in their decision to sponsor controversial
rock musician Ted Nugent as headliner for the 31st
Annual Northwest Ohio Rib-Off August 7-10 at the Lucas
County Rec Center.
Nugent has threatened to kill President Barack Obama and
spewed racist, hate-filled rhetoric towards the president,
calling him a punk and subhuman mongrel.
Presently, The Blade and Steve Taylor, Sr. of Taylor
Automotive Group have no intention of removing their
sponsorship of the Rib-Off under any conditions. “I’ve been
in business for years and if people want to buy cars or not
buy cars, that’s their choice,” Taylor reportedly said.
These are very strong and insensitive comments towards the
black community given the mass termination of sponsor
agreements with the Los Angeles Clippers following Donald
Sterling’s now infamous racist remarks.
It is also a throwing down of the gauntlet to Ray Wood,
president of United Auto Workers Local 14 and who has led
the Toledo branch of the NAACP a mere seven months.
African Americans spend nearly one trillion dollars in
consumer purchases, which amounts to what would be the ninth
largest nation globally in buying power. We spend over $29
billion on cars and trucks and the growth of the 2010 black
car buying market is 10 times greater than the general
market. We also disproportionately drive more Cadillacs and
Kias than other groups and watch a lot more cable TV, an
industry led locally by Block Communications, Inc. through
its Buckeye Cablesystem.
Coming at a time when the NAACP’s interests and commitments
have been called into question both from within and outside
the black community, the Blade/Taylor/Nugent controversy is
a great opportunity for Wood to come through for African
Americans, starved for leadership that can deliver
collective benefits to the community rather than individual
profits that go only to the leaders.
However, with the opportunity comes even greater challenges.
Wood’s ascension to the top comes at a period of maturity in
the Toledo chapter’s organizational lifecycle. The NAACP,
whose mission is to fight discrimination in all its forms,
has also lost much of the local coalitional cohesion it once
had and has failed to function effectively under the new 21st
century conditions it faces. In order to move from rhetoric
to results, the organization must evolve from its continued
association with the people and methods of the “old regime”
that make Wood’s efforts vulnerable to paralysis and
ineffectiveness. The emergent task is to transform the
NAACP’s work around new arrangements and approaches to
issues such as The Blade and Taylor’s support of Nugent.
Can the NAACP successfully go forward, taking the lead in
fighting racism and discrimination in Toledo? The answers to
several other questions hold the key.
First, can the African-American community work from the
inside - out rather than outside - in?
The fact is that many black nonprofits and others in the
black community are desperate for funds and dependent on
larger, more powerful organizations to underwrite their
fundraising activities even though their social values may
clash with those of their benefactors.
These same types of arrangements proved to be disastrous
when the Los Angeles NAACP developed a cozy but dependent
financial relationship with Sterling, a donor with deep
pockets but also a track record of racism. The Blade has
financially supported the fundraising activities of
organizations such as the African American Legacy Project
and the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union. Often, financial
contributions come with strings attached, including the
requirement to be silent or to wink at injustice.
Will groups that receive The Blade’s charity speak out
publicly against its support of racists like Ted Nugent?
Better yet, will the African-American community itself step
up and step out to support the African American Festival and
events such as the African American Legacy’s Heroes project
rather than depending on others to do it for them?
A
second critical question is this: Is the African-American
community willing to engage in marketplace activism to
combat racism in Toledo?
What if the Toledo’s African-American community decided to
deliberately organize our own purchasing power in order to
invest in social change, social justice and equality?
I
don’t quite understand why blacks would want to drive
automobiles or buy entertainment programing from businesses
with policies that support racists. Does the community hate
racism enough to choose satellite TV over cable TV or
Lincolns and Jeeps over Cadillacs and Kias?
“We do have plans,” says Ray Wood. “Allan Block of Block
Communications is going to meet with us. He has been out of
the country. We are not going into the meeting begging or as
a lap dog. We have something in place that we are going to
activate. The Blade has been hypocritical on the issue of
race but their walk has to match their talk. We will hear
what they have to say, but we are not going to take no for
an answer when it comes to Ted Nugent,” he promises.
I
believe Ray. I also pray that the community will coalesce
behind him and the efforts of the NAACP.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
|
