Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Black History Month 2006 ended on a jarring note," writes Bruce Dixon. "Andrew Young, a former member of Dr. King's inner circle ... who went on to serve three terms in Congress, a stint as UN ambassador and two terms as mayor of Atlanta ... announced on February 27, 2006 that he would chair Working Families for Wal-Mart, a media sock-puppet." Young, now an international business consultant, previously flacked for Nike. Young conducted a review of Nike's Asian operations, concluding there was "no evidence or pattern of ... abuse or mistreatment of workers." A separate report, conducted weeks later, detailed "unsafe, inhuman and abysmal conditions." Young also helped found the first Nigerian Presidential Library, which is under investigation by Nigeria's Ethics and Financial Crimes Commission. Young's firm, Good Works International, then "landed the lobbying contract to represent Nigeria in the U.S." When Young explained his Wal-Mart work on an Atlanta radio station, "the response was overwhelmingly negative," reports Dixon.