Found this site and thought it was interesting... 'Louisiana Weekly'
"Who would have thought that Ford Motor Co., the legacy of that great American Henry Ford, would be heading deep "south" in the profit and loss arena of the automobile industry? Ford is almost synonymous with Americana especially Black Americana.
Ford Motor Company also led the way in Black employment among corporate America. Blacks in Detroit, Cleveland and other auto cities prospered through steady employment and opportunity. There are hundreds of thousands of Black middle-class families that can speak of Ford with pride and gratitude.
That has translated into college education and opportunities that were totally elusive to Black masses before the rise of Ford Motor Co. and other entities of the same ilk.
Today, Ford is getting beat up badly from competition. While the automobile industry is healthy per se, American-born companies are missing the wants and needs of American consumers. Ford has done the worst in this area. It is selling fewer, closing plants, releasing employees and losing money at record numbers. This is terrible and will require Ford to become ever dependent on that steady customer base it is used to - Black America. It is the Black dollar that is approaching nearly $1 trillion annually that may determine weather Ford survives or not. The future of that legacy of partnership is at risk.
Football legend and successful entrepreneur Mel Farr was on a roll with the Ford Motor Co. Many dealers had complained about disparate treatment of their customer base by Ford Motor Credit Corp. This credit company was the primary financer for purchased autos. If you can't get the majority of your customers approved by them you weren't going to close many deals. The adverse treatment of Black customers would have a devastating impact on the sales of a Black owned dealership. We lost a lot of Black dealerships because of this and there have been many discrimination claims because of this choke hold by auto credit companies.
Mel had a brilliant idea. He went to Wall Street and formed his own auto financing entity to sell his cars. The alternative was successful - too successful for Ford. The relationship they had with Mel and his 11 auto dealerships soured to the point that Ford "pulled the rug from under him." Today, the nation's best known Black auto dealer is out of business. He is banned for life from owning a Ford dealership. In fact, and so cruelly, his two sons are banned for life also. That is how they treated their "star." Think about the other Black dealers."
Check the rest of the site out for more information.
http://<br /> http://www.louisianaw...e.pl?20070217d
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Note: If this offended anyone, I apologize. That was not my intention, I just got the info from the above source.