Nike had been under some criticism for the lack of stores owned by African-Americans?
With Nike, as with many other companies, it’s a distribution process. You don’t want your shoes competing with your shoes. Nike could not put its money up to compete against other Nike outlets. That’s how they controlled the market. When Nike decided to get into the program with us, we chose to support Nike-type operations. Why? Because in the areas where the stores were, there were none [owned by African-Americans] nearby. There was no retail outlet for the Nike products in black communities. [Kenneth N. Oliver, DCF senior vice president] and I were talking one day, and I said: “Look at all those people buying those Nike products. There’s not an African-American or minority on the other side. They need to be selling, not buying.” What attracted the DCF to the program? We were in the inner city. The customer base was in difficult areas, like Cherry Hill, East Baltimore. What was it like approaching the company? When we went out there [Beaverton, Ore.], we had our PowerPoint presentatio
