"We are challenging two engines of the world economy – the financial industry and the advertising industry -- to do the right thing," Rev. Jackson said. "We call upon them to end their longstanding, multibillion-dollar trade imbalance with minority vendors, consumers, and employees. It's time to right the wrongs done to African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic groups. Together, we are the majority. Together, we demand justice."
Rev. Jackson hailed the opportunity to bring the powerful advertising industry into the Wall Street Project. Just a few months ago, he noted, many prominent Madison Avenue advertising firms agreed to avoid investigation and possible penalties by agreeing to remedy their longstanding failure to hire and promote minorities, especially African Americans.
The Wall Street Summit and Conference also will feature the formal debut of the Small Business Institute, a support program uniting resources from the corporate, government and faith-based arenas to facilitate access to capital, financial services, technology, marketing, best business practices and other needs of the nation's 4 million ethnic small businesses.
"The growth in African American entrepreneurship is a vital sign of the economic health of our people," Rev. Jackson said. "Throughout our community – from high-powered consulting firms to barbershops and beauty shops – our small businesses generate $700 billion in annual revenues while employing large numbers of people of color. Assisting these businesses is clearly an investment in our self-determination."
Conceived in the wake of 9/11, whose economic impact devastated many small businesses, the Institute comes to fruition on Jan. 9 with a full day of seminars, discussions, and networking on topics ranging from how to win government contracts to navigating joint ventures and partnerships.
The Wall Street Economic Summit and Conference also hosts a salute to the Black Enterprise magazine's "75 Most Influential Blacks on Wall Street." And on Jan. 10th, a major closing ceremony will be held at the United Nations – a nod to Rev. Jackson's stature on the world stage as leader brokering peace in the Middle East, South and Central America, and Africa.
Convening as Congress changes hands, Rev. Jackson noted, the Summit will examine how change must now transform the business landscape. "Americans are fair-minded people, and the recent election showed clearly that they are fed up with business as usual," he said. "We must now begin to repair the damage to our economic and ethical foundations inflicted by years of corporate scandals, life-draining job losses, and the shocking and immoral pay gap that raises executives far above employees."
In marking his birthday and anniversary as a Civil Rights leader, Rev. Jackson asked that well-wishers dedicate resources to his lifelong goal: helping young people further their educations.
"By supporting education, by conducting business ethically, by changing our direction at home and abroad – at this moment, we have a golden opportunity to shine a light on the future," Rev. Jackson said. "Let that brighter, better future begin, with the new year, at the Wall Street Economic Summit and Conference."
Now celebrating its tenth year, The Wall Street Project continues the work Rev. Jackson began at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who appointed Rev. Jackson to run Operation Breadbasket more than thirty years ago. The Project exists to bring underserved communities into the economic mainstream as positive opportunities for growth and inclusion. The Project, headed by Andrew Carr, promotes better hiring and promotion practices in industry, appointment of larger numbers of minorities on corporate boards, and increased business and cooperation between majority- and minority-owned companies.
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