Rosalind Brewer is CEO of Sam's Club, the wholesale division of Walmart. Sam's claims that it is "committed to being the most valued membership organization in the world."
Brewer is apparently "committed" to a cause which has become quite a distraction from Sam's core commitment. Last week, she told CNN of a meeting she had with a supplier. Was she interested in getting the best prices and terms to save her members money and otherwise deliver "value"? Apparently not. Instead, she obsessed over the fact that the subject firm's executive team happened to consist exclusively of white men. On Wednesday, David Boroff at the New York Daily News called those who have objected to Brewer's dance on the edges of overt racism stupid white people, i.e., "white meatheads." The far-below-genius white guy here is actually NYDN home page editor Boroff himself. You see, the video posted at the paper's web site is from The Black Sphere, a site operated by Kevin Jackson, a definitely not-white guy.
It gets better.
Jackson believes that “What you learn about America is people are a lot less interested in race than they are in character.” That is, apparently, unless you're Ms. Brewer, Mr. Boroff or one of the insufferable leftists who agree with them.
In case anyone doubts where Mr. Jackson stands in the matter of Ms. Brewer's statement, look at the title he gave his capture of the related CNN video which appears at the NYDN's site:
Though the video which follows has caused a great deal of online furor — obviously not only from "white meatheads" — it has, with the exception of the NYDN item just mentioned, been almost completely ignored by the establishment press:
Here is what Brewer said:
CNN INTERVIEWER POPPY HARLOW: You are a rarity in the corner office in America, and it is something that so many people want to see changed. Not only are you a female CEO, you are a minority CEO. Where do you fall on who has to make the change and how it is going to happen, so that there are more women like you represented in the top echelons of corporate America?
ROSALIND BREWER: Right, so I, I totally agree with you. But it starts with the top of many companies. It has to start with top leadership. I can tell you that even with myself I have to live it also. My executive team is very diverse, and I make that a priority. I demand it of my team and within the structure, and then every now and then you have to mentor partners, and you have to speak up and speak out, and I try to use my platform to remind people. I try to set an example. I mentor many women inside my company and outside the company, because I think it's important.
HARLOW: And in hiring, do you demand it when you're hiring for the top spots?
BREWER: Absolutely. And not only that, is I talk to my suppliers about it.
HARLOW: Hmm.
BREWER: Just today, we met with a supplier, and the entire other side of the table was all Caucasian males. That was interesting.
HARLOW: What did you say?
BREWER: I decided not to talk about it directly with his [the supplier's] folks in the room because there were actually no females, like, levels down. So I'm going to place a call to him.
Here's here's how far-below-genius Boroff opened his writeup:
White shoppers call for boycott after black Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer rips lack of diversity with company's top suppliers
Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer, who is black, angered dozens of white meatheads when she said that high-ranking positions with the company's top suppliers are often filled by white males.
Brewer made the comments to CNN's Poppy Harlow after she was asked about diversity within the company.
Imagine if a white male CEO made an analogous statement with the races and genders flipped:
Just today, we met with a supplier, and the entire other side of the table was all black females. That was interesting ... because there were actually no males, like, levels down. So I'm going to place a call to her.
Such a statement would receive saturation press coverage within 10 minutes and would last for days on end. It probably wouldn't stop until the CEO resigned.
Chris Allen, a writer at Kevin Jackson's Black Sphere, had this reaction to Brewer's comments:
Sam’s Club CEO: Just Another Vile Racist
... (Brewer) likes to ‘nudge’ Sam’s Club suppliers to get them to hire more token minorities. That’s better than challenging the black community (and other minority groups) to work hard and earn the good jobs.
At the very least, Brewer prefers window-dressing over substance. That directly conflicts with Sam's Club mission, noted earlier, to be "the most valued membership organization in the world."
It will shock no one, based on relevant searches, that the Associated Press and the New York Times have not covered Rosalind Brewer's statement.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
