He shares how he and Bernie Marcus were brusquely fired from executive positions at Handy Dan Home Improvement Stores the humiliating inflection point that led the pair to create The Home Depot. And myself, if you will, I'm at the very bottom of the pyramid as a servant leader and somebody who is there to provide leadership, but also provide whatever that needs to be done for us to be successful. Since then, they have re-organized their focus areas more specifically into four groups: policy advocacy, organizing and civic engagement, impact litigation, and legal services. that those rights were not being fully reflected in our society today. That was in 1979. Arthur Blanks talks football, philanthropy, and Kanye West - FOX 5 Atlanta Young you are. Arthur Blank - Forbes However, peaceful protests really go back and look at the history of our country back to the Boston Tea Party. The NFL owners club is a remarkable collection of avaricious gargoyles. Soccer fans don't want to feel like they go into a stadium and they're a second-class citizen citizen. But staying in the city and trying to work with the community definitely beats the usual stadium construction scam and unwanted racial division that has become far too common in sports today. 9. In order to put this grinding pandemic behind us once and for all? Arthur Blanks brother, Michael, and his father, Max, are photographed outside the OES Pharmacy family business, in 1940. In 2022, they plan to connect with over 1 million voters/ potential voters through phone banking, text banking, in-person canvassing events, and going door to door. You need to figure out something else to do for the rest of your life. And after a while, he said, Would you please shut up? And she never did. 4, Blank purchased the NFLs Atlanta Falcons for more than $540 million shortly after stepping down as CEO of Home Depot. Give them hope. Blank spent 19 years as the company's president before succeeding Marcus as CEO. The 74-year-old Blank, who Forbes estimates has an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion, is the director of Cox. 10, Following proposed changes to Georgia voting laws in early 2021, Blank released a statement saying, We should be working to make voting easier, not harder for every eligible citizen, and that his businesses and family foundation will support efforts that advance voting access for the citizens of Georgia and across the nation. 11 Blank also participated in an online call with over 100 corporate executives to discuss taking action following changes to state voting laws including the possibility of delaying investments in states that pass allegedly restrictive voting laws. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. You know, he uses the phrase community of chaos, that we move away from chaos and towards community and community in a very broad sense, community with each other. In their sixth season of Major League Soccer, the Five Stripes bring some new faces onto the field this year. Another Home. They put my mother, my brother and I in the living room with one of them and the other was searching the house, looking for cash that wasn't there. And I love him. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Not about dogfighting. Georgia Politics FOX 5 Atlanta ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United Owner Arthur Blank said Tuesday afternoon he believes voting should be made "easier, not harder for every eligible. They all have a great set of values. I would suggest, for anybody in business, that you listen to who you're serving. In that way, I don't think my personality, probably, or my patience level probably is not the level it would have to be to sustain myself in this political atmosphere today. /Creator ( w k h t m l t o p d f 0 . Prior to the construction of the Georgia Dome they played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium with the Atlanta Braves, and you could see the spot where Hank Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth in home runs. Blank also contributed $28,500 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008. We Present You Trumps Deposition, More or Less Verbatim. Link Copied! . The rescue team said the man was buried up to his neck in soil. Minnesota Legislature, What Are You Chewing? And Ambassador Young, another good friend would say the same thing. Blank allowed the previous front office to make shortsighted moves that still are costing the. When he came out, he was on house arrest and I took a meal to him and his family from his favorite restaurant here in Atlanta. All the issues that Colin [Kaepernick] raised at that time [2016-2107] about the social injustice and lack of equality and equity in the criminal system and all those issues, I think they were real then and they're certainly real now. About Arthur Blank Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus cofounded Home Depot in 1978 after being fired from their jobs at a regional hardware store. I said, Paul? The NFL could and should be a leader among other giant corporations in taking stark stands against belligerent stupidity like racism (which it is sort of good at in a lipservice/signage kind of way, considering 70% of its players are black) and sexism (where it has a long ways to go, despite promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month with pink shoes), but also right now for wait for it COVID vaccinations. Falcons' Blank excited about building around Ridder at QB NOW WATCH: We combined Trump and Biden's separate town halls so you can watch an actual debate between the presidential candidates, Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. Arthur Blank gives $17M to National Center for Civil and Human Rights Atlanta Falcons vNew Orleans Saints Owner Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Flacons reacts before a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on November 10, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. But that was typical of my mother. Now 78, he is largely beloved in Georgia as an entrepreneur, owner of two professional sports teams and a prolific philanthropist. So there wasn't a word on the other end of the phone. They all have a great set of eyes and they're all different. Blank Launches New Voter Education Project - Atlanta Jewish Times Pictured is the famous napkin deal that sealed Arthur Blanks agreement with Taylor Smith to purchase the Atlanta Falcons for $545 million in 2001. Arthur Blank greets a crowd of cheering Atlanta United fans in 2017. Brian Kemp signed the controversial bill, which includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run. So we designed our stadium to accommodate not just for the Atlanta Falcons and National Football League football American football but soccer as well. Since then, they have re-organized their focus areas more specifically into four groups: policy advocacy, organizing and civic engagement, impact litigation, and legal services. ", It is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy We have to be better than this moment. So that was a low price a lower price than before Michael Vick the star quarterback was born 22 years before that. Atlanta Falcons employees are most likely to be members of the Republican Party. That Vote for Secretary of State? . It starts with respect. He received his MBA from Harvard. The Gruden e-mails were leaked from a (way too) long-running investigation of the toxic (i.e. You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the 'Privacy dashboard' links on our sites and apps. /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB This isnt just a short-cut, this is a long-term play with significant input and investment into the community and its future, said Scott Jenkins, the general manager of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, to The Daily Beast. Looting is NOT THE ANSWER!!! Arthur Blank is worried that capitalism is getting a bad rap. When I left [Home Depot] in 2001, [it] was the second largest retailer in the world, second only to Wal-Mart. And the great political leaders in the past, they were civil and they were good listeners. We dont have the answers, but we are committed to listening and responding to the people who have made this their lifes work and to the citizens they serve. Two Gruden compadres, ex-Gophers star and former NFL coach Tony Dungy and his ESPN partner Mike Tirico, both black, are in a bad spot for defending Gruden about his michellin [sic] tires description of another black guys lips. 6 0 obj Georgia Public Radio GPTV, a 2019 Report from the EJI documents more than 4440 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. between 1877 and 1950], National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Political Rewind: Theater critic Jesse Green remembers Mary Rodgers in 'Shy', Longtime nature writer Janisse Ray delivers gripping debut novel, At new season kickoff, Atlanta United looks for fresh start on the field. I suspect he had help. Martin Luther King Jr. once lived in this part of town, but decades of disinvestment and neglect have resulted in over 40 percent of the community living in poverty with an unemployment rate twice that of the rest of Atlanta. And, you know, living in poverty, we had friends coming by all the time and what have you. And my mother was giving him a lecture saying, You realize this is not what your parents would want you to do. It's an inverted pyramid that speaks to our whole orientation and all of our businesses today. The Number of White Teachers About to Get Fired is Exactly Zero. Now it's ranked like seventh. A message sent to Arthur Blank from President Obama in 2018, thanking him for his commitment to affordability at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium after Blank cut concession prices by 50%. Blank told Business Insider that despite their political differences, their different leanings never got in the way of their ability to work together as partners or as friends. /SM 0.02 The book lays out a set of values that guided him to turn around the struggling Atlanta Falcons NFL team, launch the Atlanta United FC soccer club and build the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Liz Cheney Aint Going Nowhere in This Republican Party, Jensens Abortion Ban Promises Come Back to Haunt Him, Thanks to Oppo. But Id like to say to CNN right now: Karmas a mother. And to be sure, Atlanta is better than what we saw in the actions of a few last night. I concede, as others who know him personally have, that Im stunned that a guy like Gruden who has been a high-profile media/cultural presence for over 20 years, regularly giving live interviews, chewing up air time as a TV analyst and obliging all the other requests for personal contact that go with being a football celebritry could conceal his essential meat-headedness so long and so well. Founded in 2010 as the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center (AALAC), the organization became part of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation in 2014. For the last two decades, sports have united this largely racially divided city, and partially due to the actions of the Hawks and the Braves, the Falcons could ill-afford to have a stadium plan that was not only racially inclusive, but also worked to incorporate the surrounding community. But COVID vaccination, as a consequence of being made political by belligerent partisans, many of whom love football more than life itself, is terrifying territory for the NFL. Opponents of the bill argue it's too restrictive and targets minority voters. Its appalling how heavily-to-tightly-managed entities, especially those controlled by a small cluster of well-heeled egos turn into shuddering eunuchs at the thought of riling just an ugly faction of its consumer base. The Atlanta media thrashed Arthur Smith, Terry Fontenot, and Arthur Blank about their interest level sometime after the news broke. In a statement released on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Twitter account, attributed to Blank, he said Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation leadership conveyed his sentiment directly to state officials in recent weeks. What I Learned Over One Cup of Coffee Yesterday Morning, You Want to Laugh at Liz Truss and The Brits. %PDF-1.4 You know, better than in the 40s and 50s, but not where we should be. They have no serious public, political advocates. So I would fight for that and surround myself with people who believe the same thing, because you have to have that brain power in every institution or corporation or nonprofit. I had another NFL player, while [Vick] was in prison, come visit me and say I came from exactly the same neighborhood, but it was in a part of Pittsburgh. So sadly, Michael was raised in an environment where that was kind of normal behavior, if you will. ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United Owner Arthur Blank said Tuesday afternoon he believes voting should be made "easier, not harder for every eligible citizen" and his business and non-profit partners plan to support efforts to advance voting access. A documentary surrounding Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian's surrogacy journey is set to air on RT on March 13. And I think we got disconnected. How aerobics changed the life of Arthur Blank long before he bought the Like many other enormous corporations the NFL, selling a slick, bristling mix of testosterone and patriotism, ducks away from anything with a whiff of political conflict. And we need to figure out, you know, how do we move past that and how do we learn from that and how do we get connected with our current reality? Sign up to receive GPB Event announcements via Email. Enter your email address to be notified about new posts. 16 Blanks son, Kenny Blank, also sits on the foundations board and is the executive director of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. A Handful of Things I Could Not Care Less About, Matt Birk: Rape Victims Are Playing the Rape Card?, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Please stop the violence!, Im not in Atlanta, but if I were I would have been standing with our Mayor! But what, I ask, would be the effect of a dozen or so top current and former stars, coaches and league executives stepping up to a camera and telling pro footballs millions (and millions) of fans to get vaccinated for the sake of other people like the season ticket holders sitting next to them if not themselves? Arthur Blank releases statement after Trump's comments on NFL Its also part memoir of how his ethics evolved from watching his father run a neighborhood pharmacy in Queens, New York, to launching multi-billion dollar ventures. And it was early on a Sunday morning. But my mother would say to me, You know, what you have to say is important. stream Bernard Marcus - Wikipedia Yeah, It Could Have Been Worse. ~B?/"J()NF =|Z|&t?jCJw)C 0H>~9 ( 81c2fO=a>}@#y}~9]jqCZ'}*x:qj@PTj+2>dm?aU2 8'z?mWm)yt7,?:99=, +oG6 <4!I lg, ]6vDT2zu9~1bA'px#?)X&,:irv.q'/U:~]{tf&[eR|ozKD-sCEAMnO e=#MguofhNFT1vMfH# Q,e_oZdb_47OatAYs2=LJr~R1# gwg],Xs7q72 f) _n:R-r9-:Q`Mg?_t*"v8? It is my hope that we take this terrible moment in our history to elevate that conversation toward productive action and lasting, positive change. But we both said, you know, if we ever had to compete with Handy Dan that was the most successful conventional chain of home improvement center stores in the country at that time it would be with a large, no frills, downmarket store. I know you see my partner, Bernie, on Fox News very often. Our family foundation seeks to preserve and strengthen our democracy, and weve chosen this as one of our new collective areas of giving. It is making no promises that it will reveal everything it has found out about the Redskins and others who had contact with the team. The Home Depot co-founder, Arthur Blank, candidly shares details of an impromptu meeting in an airport hangar when he was asked to step down, the company's short-term mistake of replacing him. Stop making people feel so fearful. The organization works directly with election officials to maintain accurate and complete voter lists and to secure their election technology infrastructure. And thats despite our recent record, which hasn't been, you know, one I'm particularly proud of, but we'll get better. 5 Other Blank family businesses include the nationwide PGA TOUR Superstore as well as a handful of ranches across the country. One was in pricing. To anyone interested in a deeper dive into NFL culture I strongly recommend, Big Game by New York Times Magazine writer Mark Leibovich for an inside-the-suites sense of who says what to who when its more or less just them peer billionaires talking. 1 0 obj So we had 35, 40 players kneeling before that, after that speech, we had close to 300 players kneeling because they took it personally and their families took it personally and their parents and their siblings and their grandparents and their heritage was being challenged. All of us as human beings, I think need to do a much better job of being a good listener. A protest has purpose. 1 2 . And I think this should be addressed out of respect and out of listening.". ,> U#kw1%dHT6qZq]9Ki o And I remember he told me, he said, You know, when [I went into] the prison system, they gave me three pair of underwear, three shirts, three pair slacks, three socks and one pair of shoes, and that was it. He said, That was all I was going to have, as opposed to the lifestyle he was leading before. So that's really what it was about. The portfolio includes nearly $10 million in grants to 12 nonprofits that represent a diverse set of organizations with a strong presence in Georgia and the Southeast. Philanthropist Arthur Blank has thrown his support behind a new voter education initiative aimed at young people. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Kemp and the law's backers said it provides some common-sense reformsto ensure elections are secure. In his new book, Good Company, Blank follows his own success to show that purpose and profit can and should coexist. OMG, Democrats Are Criminally Bad At Marketing What They Accomplish. Given its footprint, we have good rights to expect a lot more from this monolith. >> And if all goes to plan, its also going to help a depressed community thats heard big talk before. Blank retired from the company in 2001 as co-chairman. Friday on Political Rewind: Mary Rodgers grew up among some of Broadway's biggest names, from Sondheim to Bernstein. Ticket pricing was higher than it could have been or should have been at that time, and so I brought Dick Sullivan over from Home Depot, the gentleman who now runs our PGA Superstores and we came up with a strategy that we've got to sell season's tickets for $100. 2023 Cox Media Group. Generally speaking they dont do a lot to lift up the communities and neighborhoods around them. Show up at the polls on June 9. my patience level probably is not the level it would have to be to sustain myself in this political atmosphere today. Arthur blank politics The largest donation made to a political party by an Atlanta Falcons employee was by Arthur Blank. Michael Vicks published letter, Atlanta, nearly made a whole city cry on the eve of the Super Bowl. And we've had a very successful team for the first threeand-a-half years this year. Arthur Blank On Michael Vick, Bernie Marcus, And How He'd Run The U.S. But Still Not Even an Indictment. If you don't make good choices, you can end up being in really bad places. Blank retired as Home Depot's co-chairman in. Stop feeding fear and anger every day. Find out more about how we use your personal data in our privacy policy and cookie policy. Currently, over 200 Westside residents are working on the stadiums construction and the foundation has funded, among other things, Westside Works to help residents find employment and learn job training skills. Student Loan Forgiveness and The Ghost of John Kline, (Who?). Because It Delivers Comfort, Status and Cash. And if I stop talking now for two minutes, you realize just how long two minutes is. The league has recently been running in-game PSAs pushing cancer and mental health awareness screenings, etc. But COVID vaccination, as a consequence of being made "political" by belligerent partisans, many of whom love football more than life itself, is terrifying territory for the NFL. If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. "I think one of the things that is wrong with America today that we can work on and become better at is that we need to become better listeners to each other and we need to be better about understanding where people are coming from," Blank said. And that's one of our core values as well: Include everybody. I listen to what he says and sometimes I'll cringe. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? And so from there, since the 2001- 2002 season, we've only had three games that were not sold out during the season. He owns the team, after all. Kimball previously served as the vice president of network support at Teach for All. So, I would say it was very successful. Steve Bullock, and the Democratic National Committee, to name a few, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. Arthur Blank releases statement on Georgia voting rights February 4, 2021 4:12 pm ET. After stepping down as CEO of Home Depot in the early 2000s, Blanks interests centered on a variety of Atlanta-based sports franchises and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, a private foundation that has awarded over $560 million. I worked with him for over 40 years and we shared the same bathroom for over 30 years, which is more than any of our marriages lasted," said Blank, who's currently valued by Forbes at about $6.2 billion. MATTIE'S CALL: A 9-month-old baby girl was reported missing from the Ellenwood area with a man police say was diagnosed with a mental illness. So I would just cut him some slack. Theres at least one more level to the Jon Gruden disaster that NFL fans should consider about the leagues remarkable influence. That should never be tolerated. Owner Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Flacons reacts before a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on November 10, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. And somebody knocked on the door. But thus far Blank and those connected to the stadium appear committed to using this opportunity as one to enhance and not exploit this community. /CA 1.0 It's a beautiful thing. Peaceful protests of the past have led to new ways forward. >> So, long story short, I think, is that we should recognize the past, understand the progress we have made. The system has worked well for the multi-billionaire and co-founder of The Home Depot. But go ahead and do it, if that's what you want. So we did it. Arthur Blank enjoys one of his favorite hobbies at Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, one of three guest ranches owned by Blank Family of Businesses. Seventy percent of the players in the NFL are African American a disproportionate number.
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