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Merrill Lynch Subsidizes Racial Discrimination

In research this post earlier today on The Consortium?s practice of racial preference in awarding grants to business school applicants I ran across this article celebrating Merrill Lynch?s gift of $1 Million to another organization with a similar name doing the same thing.

The Business Consortium Fund is a not-for-profit business development organization affiliated with the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)....

During its more than 20 year existence, the BCF has built alliances with major corporations, commercial lenders and financial institutions to provide loans to minority businesses that may have had difficulty in securing financing through traditional sources....

The loans will benefit minority businesses that provide goods and services sold to the retail industry and other sectors in channels such as construction, food and beverage, apparel, professional services and others....

?Merrill Lynch recognizes the value of minority suppliers and the importance of their ability to obtain adequate financing to grow their businesses,? said NMSDC President Harriet R. Michel. ?This contribution grant will assist Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American business enterprises to build capacity and create jobs.?
....
The Business Consortium Fund, Inc. (?BCF?) is a not-for-profit business development program of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (?NMSDC?). The BCF is the nation?s most comprehensive financing and business support organization dedicated primarily to the certified ethnic minority-owned business sector.

As in my previous post, let us stipulate that the BCF can give its (or Merrill Lynch?s) money to whomever it wants, as (within limits) can Merrill Lynch. By the same (much smaller) token, if I were still a Merrill Lynch client I would be well within my rights to express to my broker and his boss and his boss?s boss etc. my disgust with any portion of the profits from my transactions being used to subsidize racially exclusive organizations and policies.

Full post as published by Discriminations on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).