Dear Little People and Vendidos,
We seem to have a problem with the integrity of our associations in Unity. I speak to the leaders of the AGIF, HACR and LULAC. We have encountered this problem when standing up to the Powers That Be. What problem, you might ask if you are one of the Leaders who are afraid to speak up to Corporations and Private entities who sponsor the AGIF, HACR and LULAC. Where are your cajones?
We the Little People see nothing of the Corporate high octane dollars but we see the result in the negotiations. To say anything else, will be insulting the intelligence of the group receiving this email. If the shoe fits. Shall we single you out? I mean the vendidos in receipt of this email, you know who you are. To the rest of us, lets keep on telling the emperor he is naked and lets do things right when we elect leaders next time.
Respectfully,
Kenedeno
Subject: Fwd: HACR and the AGIF had a conflict of interests
FYI,Comments for defend the Honor
29 August 2007Hola mis amigos,After a bit of online research I have come up with some data which brings into question whether HACR and the AGIF had a conflict of interests in negotiating with Ken Burns and Florentine Films. This info also suggests that perhaps our history has been "sold out" to corporate interests.Let me lay the foundation by pointing out that Ken Burns' documentary "The War" has several types of sponsorships. The fist type is public funding which was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The second type is private funding which was provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The third type is corporate sponsorship which was provided by GM General Motors, Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America.HACR - the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility lists among its "corporate members" GM General Motors, Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America on its website at http://www.hacr.org/alliance/pageID.58/default.aspAGIF - the American GI Forum lists as its corporate sponsors GM General Motors and Anheuser-Busch Companies on its website atAdditionally, HACR's current board of directors (aka coalition members) is comprised of 16 members represented by 14 different Hispanic organizations. Tony Morales, the National Commander is on the HACR Board as the representative of the AGIF. A list of HACR's current board membership can be found at http://www.hacr.org/alliance/ and links to all of its coalition members can be found at http://www.hacr.org/alliance/pageID.24/default.aspOf the 14 Hispanic organizations represented by HACR, 6 of them list as corporate sponsors at least two of the 3 corporate sponsors of Ken Burns documentary "The War". They are:(1) United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce - corporate sponsors GM General Motors, Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America listed at http://www.ushcc.com/mem-partne.html(2) MENTóR, The National Hispanic Employee Network - corporate sponsor GM General Motors listed at http://www.mentores.org/sponsors.html(3) Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities - corporate sponsor GM General Motors listed at http://www.hacu.net/hacu/2007_Partners_EN.asp?SnID=1468511495(4) Cuban American National Council - corporate sponsors GM General Motors, Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America listed at http://www.cnc.org/about/sponsers.htm(5) American GI Forum of the United States - corporate sponsors GM General Motors, and Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, listed at http://www.americangiforum.org/(6) National Council of La Raza - corporate sponsors GM General Motors, and Bank of America, listed at http://www.nclr.org/section/corporate_partners/programmatic_supporters/Additionally, on its website, Anheuser-Busch lists as its community partners HACR plus the following 7 HACR members: the American GI Forum, ASPIRA, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Cuban American National Council, LULAC, the National Association of Hispanic Publications, the National Puerto Rican Coalition. To get to this site you will have to go tohttp://www.latinobud.com/scripts/index.asp and enter your birth date, after that follow the links to "Community Partners". GM General Motors and Bank of America do not list any of the HACR coalition member on their webpage's.Of the 14 HACR coalition members only LULAC has spoken out against the "secret agreement" made between Florentine Films, HACR and the AGIF by joining Defend the Honor in their latest news release. See "Defend the Honor news release 8-20-2007" athttp://www.defendthehonor.org/ Many other Hispanic organizations are listed on this news release as well.In addition, HACR, because of its mission, is inherently intertwined with Corporate America and works to "advance the inclusion of Hispanics in Corporate America at levels commensurate with our economic contributions". See HACR's history at http://www.hacr.org/about/ which goes on to state "As Corporate America sets out to create shareholder value, HACR will continue to be at the forefront in supporting corporations that make a commitment, do the work, and produce favorable results relative to total Hispanic inclusion". HACR goes on to state "For HACR and the Hispanic community, a company's reputation and goodwill is based on its ability to promote reciprocity in all areas of the company's business model. To ensure the continued support and patronage of the Hispanic community, a company should strive to employ Hispanics, contract with Hispanic-owned businesses, support Hispanic-serving organizations, and utilize Hispanic talent to lead its operations in roughly the same proportions that Hispanic consumers support the company."So my questions are ... did HACR and the AGIF make a secret sweetheart deal with Florentine Films in an attempt to protect GM General Motors, Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America's corporate interests and future corporate gifts to HACR coalition membership at the expense of our history? Have Hispanic contributions to America during WWII been trumped by Corporate America? Has our significance been sold out for token leadership, token contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses, and hush money in the guise of "corporate giving " for Hispanic-serving organizations? If you have never read Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzalez's epic poem "I am Joaquin" here is a link. It is as relevant today as it was in 1967. see http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/joaquin.htmThe next question is this .... were HACR and the AGIF the right groups to enter into "negotiations" in the first place? After reading the joint press release put out by HACR, the AGIF, Florentine Films and "The War" aka Ken Burns it is clear that all parties had agreed that individual stories about Hispanics could "be incorporated in a way consistent with the film's focus on individual experiences and in a way that means nothing in the film that already exists will be changed". So what was accomplished except to agree to place the Hispanic experience at the end and in-between as footnotes and endnotes to a story that is equally ours?It is obvious that nothing will change at this point, but we can change and we can expect those who provide funding for projects to change. Is there Hispanic representation on the governing and decision-making bodies who provided funding for "The War"? That is National Endowment for the Humanities, Lilly Endowment, Inc., the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,. GM General Motors, Budweiser Anheuser-Busch Companies, and Bank of America? and let's not forget PBS board who has agreed to air "The War"? If there is they either weren't doing their jobs, or they weren't listened to. So in my own humble opinion, what we need to do is demand representation on these bodies. Had Hispanic interests been represented adequately on these bodies to begin with we would not have found ourselves in this ridiculous situation .Gayle ArambulaSan Antonio, Texas
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Kenedeno & Associates
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