Andrew Young is an African American former Mayor of Atlanta as well as a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He was hired recently by Wal-Mart to help them improve their national image. Unfortunately, he has just done the exact opposite with recent derogatory comments about Jews, Asians, and Arabs:

In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close. “Well, I think they should; they ran the ‘mom and pop’ stores out of my neighborhood,” the paper quoted Young as saying. “But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs; very few black people own these stores.” . . .

The backlash was abrupt, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. “It does border on racism when you say Jews, Arabs, Koreans and things of that nature,” Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, told Mason. “Certainly I know that Andy wouldn’t want that same type of characterization done to African Americans — nor would I.”

I might expect these kinds of comments coming from ideological hacks like Michelle Malkin or Anne Coulter, or maybe even from clueless politicians like George Allen, but from an acclaimed Civil Rights activist and role model for many Americans working for social justice?

The question becomes, are these comments just an anomaly, a temporary blip that we should just dismiss as entirely-out-of-character for someone of Young’s stature, or are they more indicative of his genuine feelings and beliefs that he was afraid to express until he momentarily let his guard down? I suppose the answer will depend on what he does from this point forward and the extent to which he reaches out to the groups he denigrated.

People can make mistakes, but people also have a responsibility to make up for those mistakes.