People from Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network rallied in front of Rancho Motor Company in Victorville, Ca. on Friday, November 10, 2017. Former Rancho Motor Company employees allege a culture of racism, sexism and bank and credit card fraud targeting minorities and low income buyers.
About 50 people marched from a nearby law office to the dealership about 1 p.m.
“It’s because of the racist comments and practices that have taken place at Rancho Motors, to those employees and patrons who have come to make purchases, as well as the unfair predatory practices of putting people in these predatory loans,” said the Rev. Jonathan Moseley, vice president of National Action Network Los Angeles. “We’re not going to take this lightly and condone these practices they seem to be allowing.”
The National Action Network was founded in 1991 by the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, Baptist minister and former White House adviser under former President Barack Obama.
Rancho Motor Company is an affiliated General Motors dealership, which sells Cadillacs and Chevrolet vehicles.
“The district manager of GM (General Motors) has turned a deaf ear and ignored the many complaints,” Moseley said.
General Motors Senior Manager James Cain said in an email Friday his offices were closed, that he had not been updated on the situation, and therefore declined to comment.
The nearly 50-year-old, family-owned auto dealership has been involved in litigation in the last year with former finance manager Christopher White, who alleged the dealership’s racist culture and loan practices, after he was sued by the dealership for breach of contract for allegedly stealing customer loan applications before his departure. White denies the allegations, and said it was common practice at the dealership for managers to store customers’ confidential information on their phones for business purposes. He said he kept the records in question to prove his allegations of credit and bank fraud at the dealership.
Representatives of Rancho Motor Company have denied White’s allegations and those of former employees, and have declined to go into specifics, citing the ongoing litigation.
Rancho President John Wilkins issued a statement Friday saying Rancho has been in discussions with the NAACP in recent weeks and remains “committed to building a long-term relationship with the NAACP to further our common goals of diversity, inclusion and respect of people of all races, religions, nationalities and sexual orientations, both in our workplace and the community at large.”
Wilkins, however, stated he was disappointed that the NAACP chose to proceed with the protest as planned.
“However, we understand and respect their right to free speech,” Wilkins said in his statement. He also said “we maintain that the lawsuits are meritless and look forward to the opportunity to prove our case in a court of law.”
Among those in attendance during Friday’s rally were the Rev. KW Tulloss and Michael Cummings, presidents of the Los Angeles and Watts branches of National Action Network, respectively, NAACP Victor Valley Branch President Bill Thomas and fellow member Clifton