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CounterPunch
January
13, 2003
Corporate Black
Caucus?
by RUSSELL MOKHIBER
and ROBERT WEISSMAN
The Congressional Black Caucus says that it has
been "the conscience of the Congress since 1969."
If that is in fact the case, why then
is the caucus not taking a leadership role on major progressive
issues of the day?
Because like the vast majority of members
of Congress, the caucus has been bought off by the corporate
commercial interests?
Why isn't the caucus taking a leadership
role on moving the country toward a solar economy?
 Could it be because oil and auto companies like
BP Amoco, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell Oil, Texaco, General Motors,
Ford, Nissan, and Daimler Chrysler give big bucks to the Congressional
Black Caucus Foundation?
Why isn't the black caucus speaking out
against the tobacco, junk food and alcohol companies that prey
on the nation's young and old alike?
Could it be because Anheuser Busch, Heineken
USA, Miller Brewing Company, PepsiCo, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds,
and Coca-Cola give big dollars to the foundation -- and Ms. Tina
Walls of the Miller Brewing Company sits on the board of the
foundation?
We wondered why the caucus has been silent
on these issues, but never really looked into it, until earlier
this week, when the following note came to our attention:
"The Congressional Black Caucus
and Heineken USA hold a news conference to announce the creation
of the Louis Stokes Health Policy Fellows Program to address
issues contributing to the consistent gap in health status between
people of color and the majority population. Call Ruthie Jones
(212) 686 5300."
So, we called Ruthie Jones, who is a
spokesperson for Heineken USA. She is friendly and talkative.
It's a $250,000 grant over five years,
she says.
We wanted to know how it could be that
Heineken, a major alcohol company, was sponsoring a health fellowship.
Isn't alcoholism a major cause of disease
in the African American community?
She becomes less friendly and less talkative.
I'll have someone get back to you, she
says.
Soon thereafter, we got a call from Aranthan
Jones, who works for Congresswoman Donna Christian-Christensen,
D-VI, who spearheaded the Heineken health fellowship.
"The CBC, with Heineken's help,
is sounding the alarm and aggressively pursuing proactive solutions
to address the healthcare crisis that exists in America today,"
the Congresswoman said in the press release.
So we asked Jones, will the Heineken
fellows look at the possibility pursuing federal policies to
curb alcohol use in the black community?
Don't know, he says.
But listen -- Heineken is a good corporate
citizen, he says.
They have built health clinics throughout
Africa next to their beer plants, to take care of the people
there.
But why was nothing said in the Heineken/CBC
press release about the ravages of alcoholism?
No answer to that. But listen, he says
-- Heineken has great market penetration in our communities.
We can't bring back prohibition, he says.
Mr. Jones sees nothing wrong the caucus
taking big money from Heineken USA.
That's the way of the world these days,
he says.
We then ring up Reverend Jesse Brown.
Reverend Brown runs the National Association
of African Americans for Positive Imagery in Philadelphia (www.naaapi.org).
He has been battling tobacco and alcohol
industry in the black community for 12 years.
"It appears that the alcohol industry
has taken a page from the playbook of the tobacco industry and
is attempting to buy the silence of black legislators,"
Reverend Brown says. "Black legislators were deathly quiet
on the impact of tobacco on the black community. Now, it appears
that the alcohol industry wants these black legislators to remain
deaf, dumb and blind about the toll that alcohol takes on the
black community. It also appears that the industry's agenda on
health is to deliberately downplay the health effects caused
by alcoholism that is having an extreme effect in the black community
-- cirrhosis of the liver and the need for liver transplants
in the black community, pancreatic and esophageal cancers created
by the use of alcohol."
"We are disproportionately burdened
with the effects of alcohol," he says. "It shows up
in other ways too. Relationships between men and women, spousal
abuse issues. Many of the crime issues are exacerbated by alcohol."
Over the years, Reverend Brown has attended
the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation events in Washington,
D.C.
Over the years, to no avail, he has implored
the caucus not to have tobacco and alcohol ads at their events.
"We have asked them to take a much
more active stand on the issue of targeting of black youth by
the alcohol and tobacco companies," he says.
To no avail.
Because of a strong public health movement,
tobacco ads are coming down off of billboards.
But Reverend Brown says that in his community,
they are being replaced by ads for alcohol.
Reverend Brown has been fighting for
years against the alcohol industry, especially against the high
octane content of malt liquors.
He's gotten only the silent treatment
from the Corporate Black Caucus.
Time for a revolt.
Russell Mokhiber
is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Multinational
Monitor, and co-director of Essential Action. They are
co-authors of Corporate
Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy
(Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999.)
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