High Profile Wal-Mart Ally Getting Heat

Here's an interesting story from Atlanta where former mayor and civil rights leader Andrew Young is actively promoting Wal-Mart, to the consternation of some of his brethren in the civil rights movement:

At the grand opening of a Wal-Mart in a black suburb of Atlanta, civil rights leader Andrew Young danced with store clerks, bouncing to the song "We Are Family."

He also posed with a $1 million check from the company _ a donation for a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to be built on the National Mall in Washington.

Young took part in the pep rally in his new position as a paid corporate cheerleader for Wal-Mart _ a role that has perplexed some of his longtime civil rights colleagues, who have all but accused him of going over to the enemy.

Activists for the poor have long complained that Wal-Mart skimps on wages and health benefits, forces employees to work off the clock, and kills off mom-and-pop businesses.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, known as the dean of the civil rights movement, said Young _ the 74-year-old former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador _ is acting as a "lone wolf" in working for Wal-Mart.

"Maybe he knows something that other advocates for economic justice don't," Lowery said in a statement. "Maybe we will see the corporate giant be born again and become a good corporate citizen."

And maybe Wal-Mart will continue to employ people who might otherwise be a lot poorer, or continue to offer lower prices so that poor people can get more for their meager dollars. Wake up, Rev. Lowery. Those folks in Bentonville are doing more for your community than all the unions combined.