Coke Taps Black To Soothe Racial Tension

By InJudgement Comments on Law and Culture

Dedicated to my Mom; the most judgmental person I know.

A Dollar Don't Know Who Owns It

How far in his cheek was the tongue of Namit Vaidya when, as editor of the Swizterland-based Robert Kennedy University College.CH News, he ran this story and headline: Coke Turns to Black Executive to Soothe Racist Charges, Jan. 14, 2000. http://www.college.ch/collegenews/issue03/head03.htm

Have you ever hit yourself in the forehead as if to ask: "Dummy! How simple is that? Why didn't I think of that? Yeah, that's the answer!" In hindsight, Roosevelt should have bribed Verner von Braun to negotiate with Hitler; Truman should have rounded up a few Japanese from our internment camps and deputized them as emergency Ambassadors to Japan. Maybe he wouldn't have had to drop the Bomb.

Coca-Cola is a defendant in a racial discrimination lawsuit, and apparently has a rotten reputation among the African-American community. The lawsuit alleges that Coke and its senior executives knew of alleged racial bias "as far back as 1995."

My first reaction was "So, what's the big deal?" Arguably, Coke should win a good corporate citizen award for that record. Coke has been around for the whole 20th Century, since it was putting coke in Coke. Only four years of allegedly paying blacks less, giving them fewer promotions and less favorable performance reviews than white employees isn't so bad. What's five bad years out of 100? And that leads me to my next point: Nobody makes Jews drive Mercedes Benz or brew coffee from a Krups coffee maker. If you're hungry, don't live in Ethiopia. Who's forcing anybody to work for Coke?

But, the law, now, is against Coke, and it is concerned. Coke's President, Douglas Daft (really, that's his name) and others have tapped Coke's recently retired black executive, Carl Ware, to be the head of Coke's newly created "Global Affairs Division," Last year, Ware resigned after being passed over for a promotion. I wonder if a white person got the job. But, all is forgiven, now. Daft says Ware will be the key architect of Coke's new effort to "think locally and act locally." (What' does Coke want Ware to do, pass out chickens?)

Coke knows its money is as green as anybody's. Can't you just see Coke's white wisemen sitting around their Atlanta board room: "Hey, let's start a "Global Affairs Division. We'll get that pissed-off black guy who quit last year to run it; let him settle this racial thing. That's a better promotion for him than the one we didn't give him last year. Sure he was mad, but I bet if we pay him enough, he'll do it! And even if we have to over-pay him to sacrifice his dignity, in the long run it'll be much cheaper for the company than paying our high-priced defense lawyers to mess with this lawsuit." This is pretty smart on Coke's part; hiring one Black executive is cheaper than hiring a team of Black defense lawyers (especially since there is no such thing).

Does anyone think Coke offered Ware less money for this Uncle Tom gig than he would have earned had they promoted him a year ago?

I don't, but I didn't ask Coke or Ware that question.