A sad day for race relations in the U.S. (and for Wal-Mart)

It's a sad day for race relations in this country when a prominent Civil rights leader goes over the line from being provocative to downright offensive. Andrew Young, hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart to improve the giant retailers' image, is stepping down from his position after he was quoted in a Los Angeles paper criticizing (to put it mildly), mom-and-pop stores that operate in urban neighborhoods.

For Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) this is yet another painful day for its public image. It started the week taking political hits from presidential hopefuls. Now that Young can no longer be the face of the kinder, gentler Wal-Mart, who will the company turn to?

The first part of Young's widely quoted comments aren't so bad. He reportedly accused small urban stores of "overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables." That point is well-worn and most city residents will recognize an element of truth to it. There are often small shops in poor neighborhoods that are dirty, expensive and badly run. But we frequent them anyway for convenience since there are few alternatives.

If I had been in the room with Young, I can picture myself waving my hands in his face and saying "stop, stop," after he made that one point. That was provocative enough. But Young went on to vilify ethnic and religious groups that often run small shops in many cities. I won't even begin to take those remarks apart. He is plain wrong on so many levels.

What's sad is that by mixing a half-truth with bigoted remarks, Young has no doubt triggered thousands of painful and damaging debates in homes, offices, stores and bars around the country today. I just read a bunch of the comments on AOL's message boards and already the blame, anger and accusations are flying.

Rather than improving understanding, I fear these debates will create more wounds and resentment between racial and ethnic groups. My only hope is that at least some people talking about this story will use Young's statements as a way to build bridges rather than erect higher walls dividing us all.