FROM:  Shawn Meerkamper, Founder, Executive Director, FIGHTprejudice, Inc.

TO:  Alejandro Granado, Chairman, President, and CEO, CITGO Petroleum Corporation

CC:  CITGO Board of Directors; Gustavo Velásquez, Vice President for Supply and Marketing; Daniel Cortez, Vice President for Government and Public Affairs

DATE:  Monday, July 25, 2011

RE:  Open letter concerning CITGO’s sale and display of The Battle Flag of the Confederacy (commonly known as “The Rebel Flag.”




Mr. Granado:

I am student and loyal CITGO customer.  I do my best to be a conscious consumer, and given the recent serious accidents with BP in the Gulf of Mexico and Exon Mobile in the Yosemite River, CITGO is an excellent alternative.  

However, I was troubled recently when I was driving from Nashville to Memphis along I-40 in Tennessee and stopped in at one of your locations to fill up and grab a few snacks.  As I entered the store, I noticed that the Battle Flag of the Confederacy was prominently displayed—as part of an advertisement for decals one can purchase inside the store—right next to the front door.  When checking out, I also noticed Confederate Battle Flag memorabilia for sale at the cash register, including key chains. 

I asked the cashier why CITGO sells so many Confederate Battle Flags and was told, “Because this is the Confederate South.”  Having grown up in Tennessee, I am well aware that some still hold this belief.  However, as a matter of historical fact, Tennessee has not been a part of the “Confederate South” since 1865, and this is how I should have replied to your cashier.  

While I realize that individual CITGO stations are not directly run by CITGO Petroleum Corporation, I certainly hope that this is something your corporate board will be able to address.  CITGO’s mission and values include integrity, respect, fairness, and social responsibility, and your own equal employment policy reads,  

“… I affirm personally and on behalf of our organization, CITGO Petroleum Corporation’s commitment to the equitable treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, gender (sex), religion, age, national origin, disability, genetic information or veteran status.”

So, it seems strange to me that your retail locations display and sell an image that would not be tolerated in your corporate offices.  Further, to many prospective CITGO customers and employees, The Battle Flag of the Confederacy is a symbol of disrespect, unfairness, and social irresponsibility.  Further, while FIGHTprejudice does not have the resources for market research, I have personally spoken with a number of Tennesseans of color who tell me that they refuse to patronize any business, including gas stations, which display or sell the “Rebel Flag.”  

I understand that you are in the oil business and not the business of making social statements.  However, given CITGO’s demonstrated commitment to diversity in its corporate ranks, I urge you to do what you can to ensure that The Battle Flag of the Confederacy is not associated with CITGO’s brand in the eyes of your customers.  Regardless of the various different meanings the flag has for different individuals, it is a symbol that strikes fear and anxiety in hearts of many.  CITGO does not support hate, yet in these times of racial and ethnic tensions (from our immigration policy to the election of our current president to the backlash against Muslim Americans), the display and sale of The Battle Flag of the Confederacy may give your customers the wrong idea.

All of this is to say, I urge you to make a change that will be good for business and good for CITGO’s customer relations: while opponents of the “Rebel Flag” already do boycott those stores of yours that sell it, I seriously doubt that fans of the confederacy will react similarly to the flag’s absence. 

Thank you for your time.  This open letter will be posted on FIGHTprejudice.org, and our organization will prepare an official press release in the event that we do not hear back from you within a few weeks.

Sincerely,

Shawn Thomas Meerkamper

_________________________________________________________

Executive Director, FIGHTprejudice, Inc.

Candidate for Doctorate of Jurisprudence, UCLA School of Law 2013

B.A. Philosophy & Political Science, George Washington University 2010

“It has to be based on the belief that everyone has the capacity for the most valuable forms of experience, and on the processual belief that people can and should collectively determine the conditions of collective life. These beliefs cannot be grounded in reason, as reason is commonly understood, nor is it possible to resolve their contradictions otherwise than in practice, but that is not to say that they are arbitrary. Because the existing system of hierarchy denies their validity and frustrates their realization, we should abolish it.”  — Duncan Kennedy, The Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence, Harvard Law School, Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy.