By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on April 16, 2024
Who is this man?
Why did he attend Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s October 18, 2022, press announcement of a plan by Manna Capital Partners, LLC, to build a $600 million beverage manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama.
The story of Manna Capital Partners and its troubled Managing Partner, Kevin Randall Attkisson, is featured in my April 13, 2024, editorial titled, “Shattered Facades: Ulysses L. ‘Junior’ Bridgeman’s Manna Capital Partners Seems to Function as a Minority ‘Front’ Company for Sanctioned Managing Partner Kevin Randall Attkisson.”
What is this man's connection to The Coca Cola Company? What is The Coca Cola Company's connection to the Manna Capital Partners beverage project in Montgomery?
Was The Coca Cola Company aware of the January 19, 2022, regulatory sanctions imposed upon Kevin Randall Attkisson by the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, as well as Attkisson's noted involvement in the Montgomery beverage project?
Gov. Ivey mentioned Kevin Randall Attkisson by name in her press announcement and described Manna Capital Partners as a "minority-owned business enterprise and investment firm." .
Stay tuned for more shocking developments in this explosive and fast-breaking story.
In my personal opinion, I think the only thing that will come out of the Manna Capital Partners $600 million beverage manufacturing plant project is a criminal investigation of the shady characters who are involved in it. Whoever ran due diligence on these guys for the state of Alabama and the city of Montgomery obviously failed to do an adequate background check on the project sponsors.
This seems like the old quota system deployed by government used to strike down historical practices of inequality based on race, religious faith, sexual orientation etc.
Kevin Randall Attkisson like most white entrepreneurs are keenly aware on how to go about siphoning money from programs designed for minority-owned firms for his benefit. I'm sure this beverage company is not the first time he has assembled similar projects using minority-owned status to hoard substantial wealth.
I thought that quotas created to correct past discrimination against minorities or people of color no longer exist and abolished, because such law is alleged to discriminate against white people.
Attkisson is well aware of this and having Key Ivey on his side make perfect sense…
It's shannagans like this that places a stain in DEI initiatives. These programs are rarely supported to improve the initial reason for the programs, and then often, are abused to enrich more non minority businesses.