
This is the second of two commentaries for April 11th/13th 2008. The first can be found here.
"Arts Council Should Refuse Hanesbrands Money"
Last week the Arts Council of Winston-Salem announced a plan to transform
the Sawtooth building into a multi use center for the arts. The proposal,
which includes a new theatre, would cost approximately $11 million dollars.
Thus far, the Council has raised $13 million dollars for its overall
campaign, of which about $5.5 million has been set aside for the Sawtooth project.
That means President Milton Rhodes must raise another $6 million dollars to
turn the Sawtooth revitalization into a reality.
The good news is that over 500 individuals and corporations have contributed
to the Arts Council campaign. The bad news is that one of those
contributors is Hanesbrands, who has pledged $ 2 million dollars. Memo to Mr.
Rhodes: do us all a favor and refuse the Hanesbrands money.
Politicians do this all the time when it is discovered that certain campaign
funds are tainted. Hillary has returned money, so has Barack. Of course, I
realize that the Arts Council is not a political campaign, but it is a high
profile campaign, and no one in the public eye wants a black eye for
accepting contributions from unethical or illegal sources. True, the Catholic
church used to accept Mafia tithes willingly, but that’s OK because mob money
helped the church build enough wealth so they could pay off victims of sexual
abuse in later years. But I digress in my sarcasm.
The dilemma facing the arts council is daunting. After all, private sector
giving to the Arts is down by half a billion dollars in this country, and
most community groups would be hard pressed to look any gift horse in the
mouth.
So is it fair to pressure President Rhodes to take a stand against a company
that has economically devastated some 14,000 families, by sending their jobs
overseas? You bet it is.
Accepting millions of dollars from a company who laid off 1,000 people in
the City of the Arts, and canceled subsidized medical benefits for retirees,
would place the Arts Council at odds with its own mission, which is, in part,
to “aid economic development.”
And, the Winston-Salem City Council could face a moral dilemma of its own
when Rhodes asks the governing body to cough up $ 3 million dollars for the
Sawtooth project. Thus far, City Council has failed to initiate a non binding
resolution denouncing Hanesbrands for the devastation it has wrought, so this
is an opportunity for Joines and company to finally make a substantive point
(albeit it a collateral one) by refusing to allocate more money to the Arts
Council unless the Hanesbrands pledge is renounced.
It is time for both the Arts Council and the City Council to draw a line in
the sand.
But doing so would require some personally awkward moments for the
principals involved. Mayor Joines’ wife Peggy is Chairman of the Arts Council
Board, and Hanesbrands Vice President Kevin Hall is a member. My friend Peggy
would just have to understand, and Kevin Hall would just have to go.
By refusing a major cash donation from Hanesbrands, Milton Rhodes would
become perhaps the first such Arts official in the country to stand against
corporate greed under the guise of global competition. He would also make a
stand on behalf of the thousands of workers whose jobs were sent to foreign
countries just so CEO Richard Noll could increase profits and pad his salary.
And, ironically, Rhodes would also be striking a blow for the slave wage
workers who have taken our jobs. For example, it was recently reported that
Hanesbrands has now refused to bargain with the union at its Dominican Republic
factory, after having promised to do so with the Workers Rights Consortium over
a year ago.
The question is, will Rhodes have the backbone in a bad economy to publicly
rebuke Hanesbrands? If he does, then his actions would make national news,
and set a precedent for principal over profits.
The Arts are a vital part of any culture, and help to define our very
civilization. But if the only way for artistic endeavor to flourish is to be
dependent upon funds from corporations who hold the human condition in contempt,
then it is better for us to go without new theatres.
Hanesbrands must learn that it cannot buy respectability by donating to
local arts groups, while it disrespects its own local workforce.
Shakespeare noted that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women
merely players”. Perhaps that was a harbinger of today’s global
competition, and, thus, a justification for Hanesbrands’ outsourcing American jobs
while supporting the Arts at home. Or perhaps it was simply a recognition of the
fact that all of us are performers on life’s stage, and that we will
ultimately be judged by how we act toward our fellow man. I tend to believe the
latter.
I also believe that Milton Rhodes is in a position to make a decision that
will further uphold the Council’s mission, which is to, “enrich quality of
life and develop social capital.”
Our City leaders (Rhodes included) must stop turning a blind eye to the
abuses of Hanesbrands, and show some sympathy for the thousands of people whose
lives were disrupted due to the greed of Richard Noll and his Directors. We
must stop naming Hanesbrands personnel to local community boards just so we
can hit them up for a financial contribution. We must stop asking high ranking
Hanesbrands officers to speak at important civic events or ask them to chair
high profile committees as if they were corporate role models. If not, then
we are at the very least, complicit in the actions of Hanesbrands towards
their former employees.
Winston Salem boasts of having founded the first Arts Council in the Nation.
I only hope we will make history again by being the first city to show
solidarity with displaced patrons of the Arts, when President Rhodes refuses to
accept any money from Hanesbrands, Inc.
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