NAACP Urges Blacks to Boycott Japanese Cars : Automobiles: The makers of those vehicles have not done enough to establish black-owned dealerships, the group says.
In a move designed to add teeth to the “Buy American” movement, the head of the NAACP on Tuesday called on black Americans not to buy Japanese-built cars.
“This is not Japanese-bashing. We don’t hate anybody. But we want to take care ofour own,” said Benjamin L. Hooks, executive director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. Speaking at the 83rd anniversary celebration of the NAACP, Hooks said black Americans have a large stake in the survival of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp., which together employ 143,000 black workers in the auto makers’ assembly plants and corporate offices.
Japanese makers, whose products accounted for about 30% of the cars sold in the United States last year, have been criticized for building their U.S. assembly plants in rural areas--away from the traditional urban manufacturing centers where blacks live in greater numbers.
Hooks cited the reluctance of Japanese makers to go out of their way to establish dealerships operated by blacks as one reason he called on the black community to “buy American.”
Eddie Corley Sr., a black who owns a Ford and Lincoln-Mercury franchise in Grants, N.M., agreed that black dealers have been treated poorly by Japanese auto companies.
“We approached several of them four or five years ago, and they just laughed at us,” Corley said as he was leaving the annual convention of the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in Dallas on Tuesday.
But Corley, who believes that adding a Japanese franchise would help his business, said people should be free to buy whatever they want.
“We should use political pressure,” Corley said. “I don’t think a boycott is the way to go.”
Boyd Harrison, a black dealer who recently added the Japanese-built Daihatsu line to his West Covina Lincoln-Mercury franchise, said he is torn between his patriotic convictions and his need to stay afloat in an import-saturated market.
“I agree with (Hooks) that Americans should buy American, but it’s kind of tough in California,” Harrison said. “You really need a Japanese franchise to survive out here.”
Harrison, who flew home Tuesday from the dealer convention, said three black Ford dealers in the Los Angeles area have gone out of business the last eight months.
At their meeting in Dallas last week, the National Assn. of Minority Automobile Dealers said its primary goal was to keep pressure on the Big Three to increase the number of minority dealers. NAMAD president Larry Brown declined to comment Tuesday. It said the group will issue a response to Hooks’ remarks by next week.
Together, Toyota, Honda and Nissan have 19 black dealers, compared to 359 for the U.S. auto makers. About 15,000 dealers own the 24,000 franchises in the United States.
Thomas Mignonelli, president of Nissan’s Carson-based U.S. sales operations, said Nissan has tried to solicit black dealers and will continue to do so.
“We have never turned down a dealer application based on the color of the applicant’s skin, and we never will,” Mignonelli said.
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