NAACP: Retail industry doesn't hire and promote enough blacks

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The retail industry does a poor job of hiring and promoting blacks and does little marketing and charitable work for the black community, the NAACP said Tuesday.

Retailers got an overall grade of D in a report released at the NAACP's annual convention. It was the group's first ranking of the sector. The highest grade was a C+, awarded to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"It is very obvious that in that industry the time for change is now," said NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. However, he noted most industries did poorly the first year the NAACP ranked them.

Three retailers -- Dillard's Inc., Kohl's Department Stores and Nordstrom Inc. -- got Fs. Of those three, only Dillard's responded to the survey.

The report ranked 45 large companies based on employment, marketing, procurement, community reinvestment and charitable donations. Using information from the companies, the survey measured how much those activities involved blacks.

"Retailers are making progress in their diversity efforts. We do acknowledge, however, that we do have a long way to go. Unfortunately change doesn't happen overnight," said Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation.

Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White said her company couldn't complete the survey within the two weeks required by the NAACP. She said Nordstrom is a partner with the civil rights group in black youth programs across the nation.

The other two failing companies did not return calls Tuesday for comment.

"To those companies that did poorly: Watch out, we are coming your way," Mfume said. He noted that blacks have $500 billion in collective spending power and asked them to "withhold their consumer dollars" from low-scoring companies.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also released similar reports on three other industries -- lodging, telecommunications and banking. All three received a C average and have been ranked for years.

Top scorers in each category were Marriott International Inc. with a B in lodging; Wachovia Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America Corp. each with a B- in banking; and BellSouth Corp., Verizon Communications and AT&T Corp. each with a B in telecommunications.

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