L
A14-The Chronicle, Thursday, October 25.
T
jNAACP may resun
I ting strongly that the newspaper bowed to economic
pressure from the grocery chain and accusing the
.Chronicle's assistant editor, Robin Adams, of intentionally
seeking to injure the 75-year-old civil
| rights organization.
\ The remarks came in a session billed as an exl
planation of the NAACP's Economic Development
and Fair Share Program and an interview following
the session.
Rasheed told the assembly that Adams had written
a story stating that Food Lion's management
had not signed an agreement of any kind with the
NAACP. But the record shows Adams wrote that
i ^Food Lion officials had not signed what they con|
sidered to be a Fair Share agreement.
| 4_!lt was obvious to me that she had made up her
I mind that she was going to write a pro-Food Lion,
anti-NAACP article," Rasheed told the assembly,
describing a telephone, interview he had with
Adams. He said he was particularly disturbed that
the article appeared in a black newspaper, adding
that big corporations ertert a powerful influence,
but that "I'm not saying it happened in that case."
During the interview which followed, Rasheed
said Adams "should attempt to get the facts before
she writes the story. In her case, I feel she was less
interested in getting the facts than with attacking
the NAACP .... .
"1 thought the article was one-sided. I thought
from my phone conversation with her that she was
^very critical of the agreement and the article wasn't
Jgoing to be fair to us.
5 "1 will not speak to her again about anything. I
3think she acted unprofessionally and unfairly."
| Adams wrote two stories about the Food Lion
, ^agreement following the NAACP's declaration that
lit had achieved a "victory" in ending the boycott
fwhich demonstrated the NAACP "means
^business."
5 Seeking specific details about the agreement,
:Adams contacted Eugene Mckinley, axFood Lion
Jvice president, who said the food chain signed a
non-binding statement of principles and not a Fair
?Share agreement. Adams tried to contact Rasheed,
ibut he was unavailable for comment and the story*
|ran on Sept. 27. Rasheed disputed Mckinley's
^statements in a story published the following week.
t Rasheed said Adams acted unprofessionally by
* writing the first story without including his
^response. <_
i "It wouldn't have hurt from a journalistic standpoint
and an accuracy standpoint to have waited
$ until the following issue," he said.
Rasheed said he never saw a copy of the second
article because Adams didn't send him one,
although Adams said she did.
P^6d
* ?
RUFUS EDMISTEN
Paid for by Rufus Edmistcn For Goverr
'1
1984 ?
lie boycott of chain, s
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y Rasheed also said staff members at the NAACP's t
New York headquarters receive copies of the i
newspaper weekly. i
After reading McKinley's denial that Food Lion
had signed a Fair Share agreement, Rasheed said he I
understood why "Food Lion didn't push to keep a ]
statement of confidentiality" in the document it i
cinn '
"It appears to me that they ha\e no intention to
live by this document in good faith," he said. 1
The Chronicle has tried unsuccessfully to obtain <
for verification any copies of the 23 Fair Share <
agreements which the NAACP says it has signed 1
with various corporations. 1
Rasheed said the NAACP keeps: statistical infor- i
mationTQ-determine whether the signatories -- like
Food Lion -- are meeting goals and commitments ]
detailed in the -secret documents, but that the
organization will not release them and is not accountable
to anyone except its board of directors. i
"1 think it would be unproductive to what we are
trying to do," Rasheed said of the organization's
refusal to submit the agreements to public inspection.
"These are moral covenants, not binding legal
agreements. We know that if these things are going
to work, there has to be a spirit of cooperation between
these companies and the NAACP."
"I do not report to the public," Rasheed said. "I
report to the chairman and he reports to the board
of directors." ,
Rasheed insisted that the NAACP wrested concessions
from Food Lion which led to the boycott's
conclusion.
ti via * r>n 11.. i _ . _ ._i _r
i iic unginauy nau requesieu a loiai 01 ,
202 black store managers in the Food Lion chain by
1986. Under the agreement it signed, Food Lion's
management said it would try to increase the
number of black managers from 79 to 158 by 1987.
The NAACP also sought specific commitments for
increased purchases of goods and services from
minority suppliers, but apparently failed to obtain
any such commitments.
Asked to cite one specific concession which the
grocery chain made during the negotiations,
Rasheed said the NAACP managed to include a
"signature line" on Food Lion's statement of prin?ciples
He said the NAACP's effectiveness as an
economic negotiator would be evident in the
number of new jobs provided for blacks and the
amount of business given to minority vendors and
contractors, but repeated that only the NAACP has
the statistical information which could verify that
effectiveness and that it would not release the information.
Even if the statistical information were available
EL
NHSTEP
I FOR GOVERNOR
lor Committee, John Buchan, Treasurer
?w
says official , F<?
o the public, Rasheed said, it could be difficult to
interpret because some companies are committed to
meeting specific quotas and others are not.
"It depends on the nature of the companies and
:he nature of the industries," he said. "Some companies
have no reservations about specific goals and
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ujubiij iiiv; wan vA^iaiu nujf uiwjr ai V liui meeting a
specific goal."
That answer raised more questions in the interview
about why some companies are held to quota
:ommitments and others are not -- and what pro:ess
the NAACP uses to determine how many
blacks a company should employ and how much
business it should conduct with minority suppliers
and contractors.
"You cannot apply-a scientific formula to this
process," Rasheed said. "You cannot apply a formula
across the board."
He denied that the process created a double standard
- one standard calling for specific quota commitments
from some companies and another standard
calling for only general statements of principles
which they will try to follow.
"We are not holding them to double standards,"
Rasheed said. "We are just seeking a
commitment."
During the session before the NAACP's rank and
file Saturday morning, Rasheed said, 4'Anyone can
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clear that the questions today are Mr. Mondale's cc
not merely whether we are better he, in order to
off, but who is not better off and phony prosperity
will any of us be better off in the destroy Nledicar
future. Security.
44Astute" is the correct
description of how Mr. Mondale In point of fac
handled himself, devastatingly almost immediate
knocking the "great com- ing his office, m
municator" off his pedestal. Mr. dations to substi
Reagan, on Sunday, engaged in a the two program;
debate without the benefit of?a ? we say again,-4
script," made clear that he was Republicans joine
abysmally incapable of running Congress to deny
the country; a fact we had long that he requesi
believed to be the case.
It is either true that the usually
smooth, articulate President W 1
Reagan lied outright or that he
simply knew no better when he *
tried to dispute at least two of _
ECT
I GOVE
o
Commitment To A F
l/* THE CABINET:
I am committed to appointing blacks tc
j/ THE GOVERNOR'S STAFF:
Blacks on my staff will have meaningl
dressing.M
y/ BOARDS AND COMMISSIOK
Through the appointment process, I w
boards and commissions with an empl
y/ AFFIRMATIVE ACTION:
There will -be no ret real Trotn progress
Recognizing that meaningful and siibst
avenues of entry and career progressi
strong affirmative action program for
y/ INCREASING BLACK BUSIN
At the State level, I will direct all State
missions to substantially increase the ai
ther, particular attention will be devote
Development Agency of the Departmei
assistance and training for minorities i
I intend to support legislation designee
minority business enterprise program >
ticipate in city and county contracts. 1i
ment to trade with minority businesses
!/ PRESERVATION OF HISTOI
AND UNIVERSITIES:
i
In view of the significant contribution*
Black colleges and universities in produ
am committed to working for the pre
stitutions. As Governor, I will do ever
institutions remain viable and identifu
y
Page A1
sign a piece ot paper and it doesn't mean anything
unless there is a commitment behind it."
? .r .1 . j >
cxjiiic ui mc nidic cnapiers were crmcizea aunng
the session for their failure to support the boycott.
"Some of you supported us on that (the boycott),
but I was expecting a lot more support," Rasheed
said. "I believe a lot of you don't understand what
was involved or that you would have supported us
more strongly."
That statement was echoed by Earl Shinhoster,
the NAACP's regional director. "Some of us gave
assinine, ludicrous reasons for not doing it," he
said. "We're the national NAACP. We're not Joe
Jones' NAACP."
Shinhoster also called for better dissemination of
information in the local branchesT. "1 find that, in
many branches, we operate as if we were a secret ,
society," he said. "We act like, if this information
gets out, it's going to destroy everything we're trying
to do."
And, said Kelly Alexander Jr. shortly before he
was elected the new state conference president, if
the NAACP can't pull off a successful boycott, it
can't be effective.
"This organization functions on the theory of the
credible threat," he said. "We cannot be about the
business of bluffing. We have to be about the
? A JAM* -
ousiness 01 sure nutnng. i just want to let that percolate."
ge A4
*
mtentions: that regrettably, much too much of
accomplish his what he wanted was given him by
, attempted to a sickeningly malleable House
e and Social and Senate back then.)
So, Mr. Reagan mumbled,
stumbled, misstepped and
t, Mr. Reagan, misspoke, and, once again, made
ily upon assum- clear that what America needs is
ade recommen- a real president, not a puppet acantially
denude tor who reads rather well but
s. (Thank God, whose every move is directed by
hat even some rich old men who sit behind the
xi Democrats in curtains seeking only to replenish
Mr. Reagan all the coffers of those in this counted,
although, try like themselves.
7*te Nov. f\
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c-. RNOR
Progressive Future
> cabinet and sub-cabinet level nocitinnc
Ail positions. There will be no "window
IS:
ill increase black representation on State
nasis on major policy making bodies.
r
cy*mit?admiiu&iraLion.
antive artirmativeacfion eFfortYprovide
on, I am committed to implementing a
all branches of State government.
ESS OPPORTUNITIES:
departments, agencies, boards and comnount
of business with black firms. Furd
to strengthening the Minortiy Business
it of Commerce in its efforts to promote
in small businesses.
1 to permit local government to create a
vhich allows minority businesses to par>vill
also encourage local units of governs
in a meaningful manner.
RICALLY BLACK COLLEGES
> made to our society by North Carolina
icing an abundance of talented citizens, I
servation and improvement of these inything
in my power to insure that these
ible as black schools.
%