GM viability plan proves worthy of getting bailout

For nearly a century, General Motors has been part of the American dream. A middle class was built upon it, entire communities grew around it, and its pioneering products changed the way Americans lived and worked.In particular, General Motors has helped to build the Black middle class while opening occupational, educational, and economic opportunities for many African Americans.

The Great Migration of African Americans out of the American south landed in northern cities where auto industry jobs were available and in adequate supply. In many cases, fathers fled first, while families followed.

From the 1930s until the 1950s hundreds of thousands of Black people followed their dreams of a better life. Within the auto industry, General Motors was a beacon light not unlike the North Star, by which their ancestors sought freedom from the shackles of economic exploitation. From the Great Depression to the riots of the 1960's, General Motors was there.

Since the early 1970s, well ahead of other companies, General Motors has gone the extra mile to make sure the American dream was achievable for all Americans, regardless of race or gender. In 1972, General Motors became the first auto company to launch minority dealer and minority supplier initiatives.

In 2008, despite a year of heavy cutbacks, General Motors employed more than 14,000 African Americans. It spent $2.5 billion with people of color and women-owned suppliers in the United States, and has a full-time manager focused exclusively on supplier diversity.

As the American taxpayers and government contemplate its investment in General Motors and the auto industry right now, they should consider its impact not just on our past but also on our future.

In its viability plan presented to Congress, General Motors has laid out an aggressive, detailed plan of its global transformation. The plan includes creating a new sector high-tech green jobs that support a healthy and growing middle class; a massive investment in research and development of the technology and innovation that will carry America's economy into the future; and most importantly, a conservative path to profitably that includes a guaranteed return on taxpayers' investment in the company.

Many foreign competitors, including Toyota and others, have asked for and received financial assistance from their governments. The United States needs to ensure that American auto manufacturers aren't at a competitive disadvantage during this economic crisis.

If we fail to do that, we will allow other countries to reap the benefits the United States has had all these years of a thriving auto manufacturing base.

A federal loan to GM offers taxpayers something that Wall Street bailouts did not: transparency, accountability, and repayment in full. A taxpayer investment in GM is securitized up to 300%, and automakers are required to meet and are already meeting stringent milestones in terms of restructuring.

Such a loan would kindly lend itself to the viability of many African-American households who so desperately need income to sustain their families.

Gary L. Flowers is executive director & CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc.