Der nachfolgende Brief wurde kürzlich auf der Website “New EconomicPerspectives“ der University of Missouri in Kansas City veröffentlicht (www.neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com.).Mit ihm geht der Streit, den die Replik von Hans-Olaf Henkel auf einMMNews-Interview mit US-Ökonom James K. Galbraith auslöste, in die nächsteRunde.
Dr. Walter E. Massey ist nicht nur der Vorsitzende der Bank of America,sondern auch der ehemalige Präsident des Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia,das u. a. von Martin Luther King jr. besucht wurde und früher ausschließlichafro-amerikanische Männer unterrichtete (http://www.morehouse.edu/).
AnOpen Letter to Dr. Walter E.Massey
Chairman, Bank of America
President, emeritus, Morehouse College
From
William K. Black
Associate Professor of Economics and Law
University of Missouri– Kansas City
February 6, 2010
Re: Hans-Olaf Henkel, Bank of America’s Senior Advisor in Germany
Dear Dr. Massey
I am writing in my individual capacity. It came to my attention yesterday that Bank of America’s “senioradvisor” in Germanyis Hans-Olaf Henkel. I believe that Bankof America should consider the context in which I became aware of this factvery disturbing. Mr. Henkel has justwritten the following:
Mr. Galbraith should familiarize himself JimmyCarter's "Housing and Community Development Act" where in SectionVIII Banks were prohibited the practice of "red lining" which untilthen enabled them to distinguish "better living quarters" and"slums."
The full context of Dr. Galbraith’s interview,and Mr. Henkel’s written reply to Dr. Galbraith can be found at the followinglinks to my response to Mr. Henkel:
http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com
Bank of America’s “senior advisor” in Germany – the leader of a team ofadvisors that help set the bank’s policies – is bemoaning the end of redliningand claiming that American bank loans to black “slums” caused the globalfinancial crisis. I know that you understandexactly what redlining means – the deliberate exclusion of minority borrowersfrom credit on the basis of ethnicity. Ialso know that you understand that Mr. Henkel’s effort to blame the globalcrisis on black Americans has no basis in fact and is the product of the vilestbigotry.
Americans, of course, are not unique in being susceptible to thebigotry. Consider the policy advice thatMr. Henkel gives in the German context.
Dr Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the executive boardand head of the bank's risk control operations, told Europe's culture magazine LettreInternational that Turks with low IQs and poor child-rearing practices were"conquering Germany" by breeding two or three times as fast.
"Alarge number of Arabs and Turks in this city, whose number has grown throughbad policies, have no productive function other than as fruit and vegetablevendors," he said.
"Fortyper cent of all births occur in the underclasses. Our educated population isbecoming stupider from generation to generation. What's more, they cultivate anaggressive and atavistic mentality. It's a scandal that Turkish boys won'tlisten to female teachers because that is what their culture tells them",he said.
"I'd rather have East European Jews with anIQ that is 15pc higher than the German population," he said
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Yes, he actually said that things had gotten so bad that he’d prefer tohave Jews, rather than Arabs and Turks, move to Germany. (Because, as we all know, Jews are 15 percentsmarter.) How did Bank of America’ssenior advisor respond to this delusional hate speech (made public in earlyOctober 2009)? He began an immediatemedia crusade in support of Mr. Sarrazin’s bigotry. He gave video interviews and sent (andpublished widely on the web) an open letter to “Lieber Herr Sarrazin” toexpress his unqualified support for Mr. Sarrazin’s statements (without any “if”or “but” as he put it).
Bank of America chose Mr. Henkel as its senior advisor in 2006. He has been assembling the bank’s team ofpolicy advisors since that date. Giventhe fact-free, virulent bigotry that lies at the core of Mr. Henkel’s view ofminorities it is certain that his bigotry determines his policy recommendations. Moreover, the individuals he has recruited toserve as the bank’s policy advisors under his overall direction, at a minimum,are willing to stomach his bigotry without protest.
Bank of America is enormous. You mayhave never heard of Mr. Henkel. That isnot true of your senior officers in Germany. There, he is famous. Every one of the bank’s senior officials in Germany (and probably throughout Europe) knows his reputation. Both the Sarrazin screed and Henkel’s embraceof that bigotry were major news events in Germany. If the bank’s senior German and Europeanofficials have not brought this disgrace to the attention of the bank’s boardof directors, then the rot extends to the pinnacle of the bank’s Europeanoperations. If they have brought Mr.Henkel’s hate speech to your board’s attention, why was he not immediatelydischarged for cause?
Our family, my spouse is June Carbone, lived in Northern California for 20years before moving to Kansas City. Like you, we are steeped in the proud historyof the origins of the Bank of America. Mr. Giannini’s Bank of Italy was proud to lend to “fruit and vegetableowners.” Many of these smallentrepreneurs were recent immigrants from Italy. Like the “fruit and vegetable” entrepreneursthat Mr. Sarrazin and Mr. Henkel despise, they often faced deep suspicionbecause of their accents, their national origins, and their religion(Catholicism). This was the era of“scientific racism” and educated people “knew” that immigrants from Southern Europe were inferior. As you know well, the resurgance of the Klanduring Mr. Giannini’s era was largely anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.
Mr. Henkel is not simply a bigot. His substantive policy advice – deregulation and far higher executivecompensation – makes him one of the principal German architects of thecrisis. He gave Bank of America awfuladvice.
But Mr. Henkel’s saddest trait is hypocrisy. He is a serial hypocrite because his bigotrytrumps the things he purports to stand for. His speaker bureau bio (self) describes him as “courageous.” (He applauds Mr. Sarrazin’s screed asexemplifying courage.) In the policycontext, courage is speaking truth to power when power does not want to hearthose truths. Mr. Henkel flatters powerthrough the gospel of Social Darwinism. Mr. Henkel claims to be the champion of the “entrepreneur” – but treats“fruit and vegetable” entrepreneurs with contempt. Mr. Henkel denounces “smears” against the“market system” but launches, and cheers, the vilest smears that have producedthe most monstrous crimes against humanity in world history.
Bank of America must not simply announce some face saving retirement(particularly one thanking him for his service and paying him severance). Bank of America needs to make a clearstatement about what it stands for. DoesMr. Giannini or Mr. Henkel represent Bank of America?
I offer the following recommendations for your board’s consideration. Mr. Henkel should be terminated forcause. Immediately. Bank of America should review all policyadvice it has received from him and his team and seek outside guidance fromexperts that (1) foresaw the crisis, and (2) are not bigots. Bank of America should review why its seniormanagers in Europe and the UnitedStates took no action while its “senioradvisor” spread his hate for months. Bank of America should announce a new $10 million scholarship programfor college and graduate students of limited financial means. I suggest naming the program the Gianniniawards.
Very truly yours,
William K. Black
--->neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com
