Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to lobby Southern corporations for greater African-American role

Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson says his organization plans to buy stock in corporations in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, then lobby the companies to offer more opportunities to African-Americans.

Jackson told The Commercial Appeal that his Rainbow PUSH Coalition will seek representation of black people on corporate boards, in executive suites, and in overall employment.

He also said his organization will seek a greater share for African-Americans in the companies' business purchasing and use of financial services.

Jackson said the long-term campaign in this region will resemble his organization's lobbying of Silicon Valley companies like social media giants Twitter and Facebook.

That years-long campaign has led to change. Just last month, Facebook announced that it was adding its first black member to a previously all-white board of directors: Kenneth Chenault, the outgoing CEO of American Express.

"And they called us before he was appointed because we've been on their case," Jackson said.

Jackson's group has pressured other industries over the years, including automotive companies such as BMW. He said purchases of company stock turn activists into owners and give them the right to speak at shareholder meetings.

"We're going to purchase stock in about 25 companies in this area and start the same process." 

Jackson described the broad outline of the plan in a meeting with The Commercial Appeal's editorial board on Wednesday.

He said the area that surrounds Memphis deserves special attention because it's the city where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in April 1968, almost 50 years ago - Jackson was talking with King right before the shooting at the Lorraine Motel.

Now 76, Jackson said the motel balcony was like Calvary, the place where Jesus was executed. 

He said his organization is also using voter registration drives to bring about political change in this region. "It could very well be in this little triangle right here. It could be a new America." 

Jackson said his organization is already studying public corporations in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, researching their boards of directors, executive leadership and EEO-1 reports, in which companies disclose the race, ethnicity, and sex of workers, by job category.

He argues companies need black and brown customers to thrive, and ought to include members of minority groups in their leadership. "It's so irrational to have an all-white board on a multiracial base, consumer base. You can't take the heat from that. It's not right." 

Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO Phil Trenary wasn't available for comment Thursday.

Memphis entrepreneur Carolyn Hardy recently completed a term as chair of the chamber's board. She was the first African-American woman in that role, and still leads the organization's chairman's circle, a group of local business leaders.

She cited a statistic from a 2012 Survey of Business Owners by the U.S. Census.

That survey estimated black-owned businesses in Shelby County got a tiny share of all the money that customers spend here: less than 1 percent of the dollars, in a county that's 54 percent black. 

She said the small share of earnings shows that previous efforts to increase black economic power haven't worked well.

"So to get off of less than 1 percent is gonna take a lot of effort and a lot of commitment. And I think the only thing (Jackson is) saying is he's looking for creative ways to skin the same old cat. I never have a problem with creativity."

"I think you can't keep doing things the same way you've done it in the past. Sometimes people will question the right way or the wrong way. I think doing nothing is worse than doing the wrong thing, in some cases."

She said the picture is not all bad. "There is a lot of positive going on. The Chamber's doing a lot of good things. The chairman's circle is trying to focus on it as well.

"But I think the thing that we all have to understand is that we've got to do it faster." 

She said black business empowerment is a way to attack longstanding local problems like poverty and crime.

"Moving three percent of kids out of poverty – maybe – in the next 20 years, I don't think our conscience can deal with that. I know mine can't." 

Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.