January 15, 1999 [The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition]>
Wall Street Project of Jesse Jackson Begins to Produce Noticeable Results
By CHARLES GASPARINO Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jesse Jackson's second foray on Wall Street has begun to produce some noticeable results. Several major corporations confirmed Thursday that they have agreed to allot the management of a portion of their pension-fund assets to minority investment firms.
The moves came during the first full day of Mr. Jackson's Wall Street conference at Windows on the World in New York City. The conference, which will run through Friday, addressed many of the same issues highlighted last year, namely, opening up investment opportunities to women and minorities, and creating jobs in poor inner-city areas. President Clinton had been scheduled to travel last night to New York and speak at the conference on Wall Street. But the White House canceled the trip last night due to bad weather.
This year, however, the famed civil-rights leader and frequent presidential candidate has been more inclusive himself, calling on Wall Street to begin addressing the economic problems in Appalachia, an effort, he said in one interview, to broaden his movement beyond racial boundaries.
One big question: What impact will the Wall Street project have on the nation's securities industry and corporate America? Thursday, several big Wall Street firms sent representatives to the conference in an effort to underscore their commitment to diversity.
Mr. Jackson, for his part, announced he has cobbled together agreements from several big companies, including Bell Atlantic Corp. and SBC Communications, to give minority investment firms opportunities to manage pension-fund assets and provide other financial services.
Bell Atlantic, for example, announced minority-owned investment firms will manage $50 million in its pension-fund assets. SBC said it is looking for minority firms to manage or underwrite $100 million of its securities.
Mr. Jackson said his Wall Street Project now owns stock in as many as 150 companies, a tool that allows the organization to push issues with these companies as "shareholders, not as sharecroppers." He also said the project is forging "new relationships and building bridges," helping people "who have been locked out of growth and prosperity." He took issue with Wall Street's investments in foreign nations, while, he said, communities in the U.S. suffer, calling it "snobbish elitism."
Just how much progress Mr. Jackson has made over the past year may be described best by critics of some of Mr. Jackson's policies. Abigail Thernstrom, co-author of "America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible," a book critical of racial preferences, said Mr. Jackson's effort to build bridges between Wall Street and underserved communities is a "useful thing."
"He's not threatening anyone, and if he can create a network, that's great," she said. "There's much too much reliance on government set-asides which haven't worked."
--Joseph N. Boyce in New York contributed to this article.