Black Mayors take Stand on AT&T/BellSouth Merger

THREE BLACK MAYORS TAKE LONELY STAND ON AT&T/BELLSOUTH MERGER
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
As the FCC struggles for consensus on AT&T's proposed acquisition of BellSouth, one aspect of the public filing record stands clear: minority advocacy groups overwhelmingly support the union. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Jesse Jackson's Operation Rainbow Push, and other regional civil rights groups have all submitted statements on behalf of the $67.1 billion deal, which will create an entity that serves up almost half the telephone land lines in the United States. But Mayors Ray Nagin of New Orleans, Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, and Eric Perrodin of Compton are again expressing concerns about AT&T and BellSouth's performance in inner-city areas. Calling themselves the Concerned Mayors Alliance (CMA), they cite studies and newspaper reports suggesting that AT&T redlines minority neighborhoods -- systematically denying or delaying service to low-income ethnic areas. Their comments at the FCC describe these regions as the "last wired and the last hired," and expressed concern that the merger could reduce opportunities for minority contractors. Their filing also charges that minority neighborhood residents often receive shoddy service from AT&T.
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