MEDIA ALERT
87 Year Old Edward Gardner, the legendary former President of Soft Sheen Products who The City of Chicago just honored with an honorary street sign, threatens to publicly disrupt construction on Monday morning to protest lack of African American participation in construction.
WHEN: Monday, September 24, 2012
WHERE: Construction site at 2210 West 95th Street
(Former Border’s Location)
TIME: 10:30 AM Contact:
Emma Young – 773-651-6049; 312-953-6363
Chicago, IL.
On Friday, September 22, Ed Gardner, was outraged when he saw concrete being laid and other construction going on at 2210 West 95th Street, yet not a single Black worker in sight.
“Every worker was either Caucasian or Hispanic,” said Gardner, “except the foreman, he was (East) Indian.” Gardner stepped out of his car with the intention of “wallowing in the wet concrete” in spite of the foreman’s warnings.
This quickly got the attention of the foreman, and before Gardner could make good his threat, two squad cars arrived. Shortly afterward Alderman Brookins and Alderman Rugai were on the scene, and along with the four police officers begged Gardner not to do it.
Finally, Gardner retreated, but not before promising to return Monday morning at 10:30 AM to stage a one-man protest by walking through the wet concrete.
“Down the street I see young Black men selling drugs on the corner because they can’t find any work, and here in a neighborhood that is nearly 40% Black and only 4% Hispanic, there are only whites and Hispanics working, and no Blacks.”
Ed Gardner is asking the community to come out to support this cause and to witness his protest.
Mark S. Allen, Chairman of The National Black Wall Street Chicago organization and our Rev Willie T. Barrow Consumer Education and Consumer Action Project committed to helping to sustain and increase Black community businesses and jobs is asking members and available allies who are unemployed construction workers and contractors to offer public support to his Kappa brother and legendary Black businessman Ed Gardner and his one-man construction site protest MONDAY SEPTEMBER 24th -- "for an 87 year old man of his legendary status in the Black community cannot be left standing alone as he fights the economic violence in the community, and this should send a signal to our community and its leaders that this economic violence will no longer be tolerated when you have qualified Black workers who cant find legitimate work and continually forced into these illegal and life threatening.economies to survive."
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