WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week predicted “widespread boycotts” of major wireless firms that are found to have poor records of hiring and promoting African Americans.
The Economic Reciprocity Initiative, which also covers wireline carriers and eventually could encompass the entire telecom industry, follows the NAACP’s review last year of employment and procurement practices in the hotel industry.
“Technology is an industry that is pivotal to the economic empowerment of the African-American community,” said Mfume.
Indeed, black leaders increasingly are looking to business ownership and advances in the job market to supplement legislative gains of the civil rights movement.
In this case, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wants to use minority buying power to leverage more diversity in a high-growth telecommunications market that is the sixth-largest U.S. industrial sector.
Blacks, according to the NAACP, spend $10 billion annually on wireless and wireline telecom services, 12 percent more than white households.
“We hope and clearly expect, that as a result of the work to obtain data, to get a true picture of minority participation” and that in turn “will lead to greater support of those companies that are doing well in the telecommunications industry and … to widespread consumer boycotts of those who are not,” said Mfume.
The NAACP said it will survey AirTouch Communications Inc., Alltel Corp., Ameritech Corp., Bell Atlantic Corp., BellSouth Corp., Cincinnati Bell, Comcast Corp., Excel Communications, Frontier Cellular Corp., GTE Corp., LCI International, MCI Communications Corp., SBC Communications Inc., Sprint Corp., Southern New England Telecommunications, U S West Inc. and WorldCom Inc.
“The NAACP’s review of the wireless communications industry will undoubtedly help us ensure that we are providing equal opportunities for all Americans,” said Jay Kitchen, president of the Personal Communications Industry Association. “PCIA strongly believes that our work force should reflect society’s diversity and will look forward to the results of the NAACP’s initiative.”
In addition, Mfume promised retribution against wireless carriers and others that engage in what he called “technology redlining.”
Just last week, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition joined with organized labor and Baby Bells in opposing the proposed $41.8 billion merger between MCI and WorldCom.
Jackson charged the merger “will apparently be financed by redlining and cream-skimming at the expense of low-income and minority residential customers.”
The NAACP’s emphasis on hiring, promotion and procurement reflects the operational stage at which the wireless industry finds itself today.
For sure, the window of opportunity for African Americans to buy prized wireless licenses is nearly closed. Only a handful minorities and women were able to capitalize on congressionally supported auction-bidding incentives that the Supreme Court all but wiped out in the 1995 Adarand decision.
Despite curbing federal affirmative action, the high court left some leeway for minority preferences if government agencies could document a clear and convincing case of discrimination in a given business sector. The Federal Communications Commission, which eliminated minority and female bidding credits in the aftermath of Adarand, has yet to produce such a report.
Mfume said he is distressed about how long the FCC is taking to issue the Adarand report and the resulting fallout for African American entrepreneurs.
But, he added, there would be no report were it not for FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, who served as general counsel under former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt when the Adarand ruling came down.
Kennard said the FCC would complete the Adarand study this year.
In response to the launch of the NAACP telecommunications study, Kennard said he is “committed to increasing opportunity for small businesses, especially minority- and women-owned businesses. I support any effort to make the communications revolution inclusive so that it creates more opportunity for Americans of all colors.”
But in terms of wireless licensing, the FCC Adarand study might be a moot point. The most valuable wireless licenses have already been sold, though more auctions are planned this year.
Moreover, Rep. John Canady (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, plans to re-introduce legislation this month to end race and gender preferences in federal programs.
