Inspired by Evan Bayh as well as Joe Lieberman, I was going to dash off a diary tonight entitled "I Am Tired of These MF'ing Snakes In My MF'ing Caucus" -- if anyone wants to take up that idea, it practically writes itself -- but then tragedy ensued. My good buddy, business reporter Alain Sherter, sent me an actual scoop of his.
So, goodbye lowbrow comedy and Conservadem bashing, and hello asking the National Urban League what the hell it is doing inviting Wells Fargo's CEO to speak at its "“equal opportunity day” awards banquet".
You heard that correctly. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will be speaking at the Urban League's dinner celebrating equal opportunity.
The punchline? Wells Fargo has been accused in Illinois and Baltimore of discriminating against Blacks and Latinos in lending. It's being sued.
On the Sarah Palin scale of vetting problems this rates below, say, a Bernie Kerik, but still -- HUH?
Go, again -- hurry, hurry! -- to Sherter's article, where he spells this all out. I've only got three (or four) paragraphs to quote directly and make my job easier, so I'll try to choose wisely.
I'll start by paraphrasing this: not only is Wells Fargo being sued by the State of Illinois and the city of Baltimore for its shady loan practices -- and please do click that last link for a heart-warming example of whistleblowing! -- but fellow civil rights group the NAACP is also suing Wells Fargo, for its "systematic, institutionalized racism in subprime home mortgage lending."
Great, I've earned the right to steal my first paragraph from Sherter's bnet article! Here it is:
Specifically, Wells is accused of steering minorities into pricier subprime mortgages. A 2008 investigation by the Chicago Reporter found that Wells Fargo in 2005 issued African-American borrowers higher-cost mortgages 37 percent of the time, compared with about 5 percent for white borrowers. Among its other findings was that black homeowners earning more than $100,000 a year were more likely to get high-cost loans than white homeowners earning less than $35,000.
Now, as Sherter points out, Wells Fargo denies that it is discriminating in lending and must be considered innocent until proven guilty, guilty, guilty! (That last bit is my embellishment, not his.) But as he says, not only does it not make sense for the Urban League to be joining forces with Wells Fargo at all, but
[t]he charges against Wells also appear to conflict with the stated purpose of the dinner. According to the Urban League, the event is to honor "individuals and corporations who perpetuate the principle of equal opportunity and exhibit leadership qualities that result in notable contributions to the cause of equal rights."
Need some evidence? Go to Sherter's article and read the affidavit from Elizabeth Jacobson, who had been the top subprime loan article at Wells until 2007, and see how she describes how Wells Fargo wanted her to "uplift" African-Americans right into the economic abattoir.
Sherter originally included a brief response from the Urban League ("We didn't know about this! We're just supporting Wells Fargo's efforts at consumer education!") that was later augmented thusly:
The National Urban League’s partnership with Wells Fargo is focused on expanding housing counseling services and providing solutions to the foreclosure crisis our country is facing. In communities across the country, we help tens of thousands of homeowners forestall mortgage default, delinquency and foreclosure while educating them in mortgage refinance and loan modifications strategies. Wells Fargo’s partnership with the National Urban League is focused on the work in these areas in 2010 and beyond.
Let me explain this really simply to the Urban League: what you are engaging in is whitewashing. (When companies get all faux environmental, we call it "greenwashing.") The Urban League will go along with its dinky public education programs for as much as you want so long as it can discriminate against minorities in lending. To them, the good fuzzy PR means one thing to them: they can get away with more predatory lending and discrimination. ("Allegedly," I must add. For now.) You do not make common cause with them. It makes you look like a bunch of idiots.
Unsurprisingly, Stephen Colbert presented this very well in coining the term "blackwashing":
Sarcastically defending Beck and Limbaugh and North Carolina Rep. Virginia Fox for their outrageous comments about "reparations" and Obama's "racism", he coined a new term: Blackwashing. Say what? "Black people are handy. They allow us to criticize the president without being accused of racism--the same way Jews can tell jewish jokes and Irish people can tell Irish jokes. You see, having an African American on your side whitewashes, or in this case, blackwashes your racism."
But is the Urban League truly courting that danger? Let's give Wells Fargo's response to Sherter the next to last word:
Wells Fargo has a longstanding commitment to communities where we do business across the country. We participate in and contribute to many worthwhile organizations, including the National Urban League. We fundamentally believe it’s important to be an active participant in the local community.
Put more briefly, "we're so nice that a few heinously racist business practices shouldn't make you hate us." Well, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, you go ahead and give your speech at this dinner! But we're watching you now, just like we're watching those lawsuits, and the PR you get may not be what you bargained for -- which, come to think of it, will put you in the same position as many minorities who trusted Wells Fargo to treat them fairly.