Accusations of Racism : Japanese Businesses Unfair, Blacks Say

Leaders of the American black community, angered by continued signs of apparent Japanese racism, are planning a series of meetings this week to plot a strategy for government and private action or even a possible black boycott of Japanese goods.

“I think our patience is running out,” said Rep. Walter Fauntroy (D-D.C.), the non-voting congressional representative of the District of Columbia. “We are very close to taking some concrete steps.”

Indeed, black leaders who have been meeting privately with Japanese business and government officials over the last two years in an effort to improve relations and persuade Japanese firms to do more business with minorities in this country now argue that quiet negotiations have yielded little.

“The black leadership is angry,” said Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who headed up a visit by black leaders to Japan two years ago. “We’ve tried to have a conciliatory approach, and gotten nothing. Now civil rights groups are going to get involved, and they are not going to have quiet meetings, and nice teas and visits to Japan.”

Officials in the Japanese Embassy in Washington are worried by the worsening relations with the U.S. black community, and have asked Tokyo to take action to stem what they see as a widening perception of Japan as a racist nation.

“I’m recommending to Tokyo that they not take cosmetic measures, but real actions to deal with this,” said Taizo Watanabe, Japan’s charge d’affaires at its embassy in Washington. “It’s a serious situation.”

The controversy has simmered for the past two years, since then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone suggested that blacks and other minorities were dragging down the intellectual level of the United States. He later apologized for the remark.

While Japanese officials have tried to patch up relations since then with American minorities, the controversy broke out once more this summer, after a series of incidents.

A leading Japanese politician, Michio Watanabe, told a political meeting last month that American blacks have no qualms about going bankrupt. Soon after, it was reported that Japanese stores were using black mannequins with highly exaggerated racial features, and another firm was distributing in Japan a line of toys and beachwear that featured a “Sambo” figure, also with exaggerated racial features.

Watanabe later apologized and the products were withdrawn, but black leaders now say they believe that racism may be deeply embedded in Japan’s homogenous culture.

The latest events have also tended to highlight in the minds of black leaders here that Japanese firms have given few business opportunities to blacks and other minorities in the United States. For instance, black leaders say there are almost no black-owned Japanese car dealerships, while domestic car companies have developed successful programs of training and financing black dealers.

Boycott Mulled

At the same time, blacks have become increasingly angry about the seeming willingness of Japanese corporations to expand trade with South Africa, stepping in to fill the void left by American and European companies that have divested. Japan is now South Africa’s leading trading partner.

As a result, a number of black leaders said public protests, coupled with the threat of a boycott of Japanese products, may be the only means to convince the Japanese that they must change their ways.

John Jacob, president of the National Urban League, held a press conference last week at the group’s annual convention in Detroit to express his outrage and warned of a possible boycott. The Congressional Black Caucus held a separate press conference on the same day, and those two groups are now spearheading a movement to take further action.

“There has to be something done, and this thing of having pleasant conversations is not it,” said Earl Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, and chairman of the Black Business Council.

“The last thing we need to import from Japan is racism. So now the question is, what is going to get their attention,” he said. “A boycott is always an option. I can’t say to you that will happen, but my sense is that some overt action will have to take place. This is picking up momentum, there are other black organizations looking up and saying enough, already.”

Leaders of a range of black organizations, including the Urban League, the Black Business Council, the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People--along with representatives of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition--expect to hold a series of informal meetings over the next few days to hammer out a response to Japan, perhaps by the end of the week.

Graves and other leaders of the organizations involved have been talking with Jackson in an effort to get the former presidential candidate personally involved in some way. Jackson has tried in the past to persuade Japanese firms to hire more minorities and to expand their business dealings with black-owned companies. Spokesmen forJackson or the Rainbow Coalition could not be reached for comment Monday.

Examining Options

Most black leaders said they are not quite ready to mount a national boycott, and stressed that they are still formulating options to be discussed at the meetings. But Dymally said he expects that the possibility of a boycott will be raised.

Among less drastic moves the groups may consider will be to endorse and push for a provision in a South African divestiture bill now before Congress that would extend sanctions to include foreign firms, most notably Japanese, who do business in the United States. The sanctions currently in effect cover only U.S.-based corporations.

But penalties could be imposed on foreign firms in the form of duties or other restrictions on their imports into the United States, according to an aide to Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Sacramento), who has joined with the black caucus in condemning apparent Japanese racism.

The congressional caucus may also push for a congressional investigation of Japanese business and hiring practices in the United States, to determine whether they discriminate against blacks.

What black leaders want most, however, is some tangible evidence that Japanese corporations in the United States are ready to work more closely with the black community. So far, however, they say they haven’t seen that commitment.

“Every now and then I will meet with Japanese businessmen, and ask them about doing business with blacks, and they will say, ‘Oh, we contribute to the United Negro College Fund,’ ” Dymally said. “That ain’t selling no more.”