Reversed! UC Ban on Affirmative Action (in Bay Area News) China Charges Detained Scholar with Spying for Taiwan (in National News) Hot'n'Sour Dish: Bridget Jones' racist diary (in A&E) Emil Amok: Emil's International Incident, Part II (in Opinion)

Related: • JACL Rejects Philip Morris Donation • Washington Journal: On Funding

JACL Rejects Philip Morris Donation

By Jennifer Coleman/AP

Tobacco foes urged one of the country’s largest Asian American civil rights groups to not link their name and their history to one of the most vilified industries in the country.

The Japanese American Citizens League is a 72-year-old civil rights agency and, like many nonprofit groups, is facing the “threat of declining revenue,” said JACL member Keith Kamisugi. But Kamisugi and others say that’s no reason to take money from tobacco companies, which they say have targeted Asian Americans as potential smokers.

The JACL voted on Saturday to stop taking donations from tobacco companies, including Philip Morris Companies, Inc., at their national meeting in Los Angeles. The 18-member board didn’t make that decision lightly, said executive director John Tateishi.

“It’s a very moral question that’s being put to the board,” he said. “The tobacco industry has targeted Asian youth and minority youth, which a lot of people find objectionable, for obvious reasons.”

Kamisugi says Philip Morris “is trying to buy the reputation of organizations to buttress their public positioning.”

That’s not uncommon — many companies have philanthropic efforts and choose causes that company employees or executives believe in, he said.

“With this particular company, there’s a line that needs to be drawn,” Kamisugi said.

Philip Morris denies targeting Asian Americans in their marketing, said director of corporate affairs Karen Brosius.

“Philip Morris definitely doesn’t do that. We have changed in a wide varieties of ways,” she said.

One of the company’s smoking-prevention programs is focused on youth and there’s “a whole Asian component in that,” she said.

It’s not the tobacco marketing that led the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco to decide not to apply for Philip Morris money — it was the product, said shelter director Becky Masaki.

“Before any opportunity for money came about, we decided as an organization that we didn’t want to that take money,” Masaki said. “We felt that the products were unhealthy for our communities. Because we’re in the business of trying to build healthy families and communities, it would be a conflict to take that money.”

The California branch of the American Lung Association is concerned that if JACL takes tobacco money, other smaller Asian American groups will also.

“JACL is one of the largest and oldest organizations. If they take the money, others will be more comfortable with it,” said Trisha Murakawa, a board member of the California chapter of the association.

The association is worried if tobacco companies are allowed to associate their names with community groups, it will lessen any stigma attached to smoking and tobacco use will rise.

“They want to use the good things that JACL does and say ‘These are the things that we’re doing.’ It’s taking credit for the types of good works that these organizations do,” Murakawa said.

The JACL works to protect civil rights for Asian ethnic groups. The organization now has 24,000 members nationwide and a multi-million dollar operating budget.

No specific dollar amount has been offered by Philip Morris, said Tateishi, but company executives have approached the JACL about possible donations.

The vote was a “philosophical” statement, he said, on the organization’s policy on donations from tobacco companies.

Another prominent Asian American association, the Organization of Chinese Americans, has accepted donations from Philip Morris.

The Washington D.C.-based group uses the funds to publish a directory of 2,000 Asian American groups across the country — a project the OCA couldn’t afford to do without corporate sponsorship, said Christine Chen, OCA’s director of programs.

“For organizations such as ours, funding just really doesn’t come naturally. Civil rights isn’t as tangible as a cultural center that is easier to raise funds for,” she said.

The group used to accept donations from Kraft Foods, but since that company merged with Philip Morris, “it becomes more difficult,” she said. “We go through this debate every single time.”

Because the funds go to a specific project, it’s not likely to influence the group’s stand on issues, she said.

“We don’t use ‘sin’ money for youth programs. There is a distinction between our donations,” she said.

Philip Morris donated about $125 million to community and nonprofit organizations last year, said Brosius. The company focuses on food pantries and domestic violence shelters, as well as programs to prevent youth smoking, she said.