Blacks defend Andrew Young   

By Robert "Rob" Redding Jr.

Publisher

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2006, 10 a.m. - Some blacks yesterday defended former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, who has stepped down from a Wal-Mart post, after making what the company has called disparaging comments about Jews, Koreans and Arabs.

Young resigned from his post as head of "Working Families for Wal-Mart" Friday after he told the Los Angeles Sentinel he is concerned that the world’s largest retailer causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close on Thursday. 

"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood,'' the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores.''

"And he is right," said Walter E. Fauntroy, minister, civil rights activist, and former Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. "He told the truth in love."

Young, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., has since apologized for the remarks.

This is not the first time Young has been at the center of controversy.

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He was forced to resign his UN post after meeting with a representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization - a gathering where Fountroy, then a Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, was present.

"I hope Andy's comments fire up our people to tell the truth," Fauntroy said of Young's most recent remarks.

Russ Parr, a syndicated radio host, also supported Young's remarks.

"The truth hurts," Parr said. "I think its a darn shame that no one wants to hear the truth anymore...They don't go into our community, so they don't know what he is talking about."    

The comments of support for Young were made on Joe Madison's show, which airs on WOL-AM and XM 169 The Power.

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