Exxon’s Donation to the American Indian College Fund…PFFFFT.

So…it seems that Exxon has donated $100,000 to the American Indian College Fund.

From the Native American Times:

Richard B. Williams, American Indian College Fund president and CEO, said: “We thank the Exxon Mobil Corporation for its steadfast support of the American Indian College Fund and the amazing students we serve.  This generous contribution is a tribute to the company’s outstanding commitment to philanthropic organizations that encourage underserved students to pursue technology-related careers.”

Pardon me while I throw up.

Don’t get me wrong.  I applaud and commend any contribution to the American Indian College Fund.

It’s the source of the contribution that is irritating me at the moment.  And the complete hypocrisy of it all.

All I can think about at the moment is a certain large litigation matter involving a well-known oil company.

You may have heard of it.  The Exxon Valdez case.

As far as I am concerned, Exxon’s contribution of $100,000 is a slap in the face to the Native community that it would like everyone to believe it cares about.

What does the Valdez case have to do with the American Indian College Fund, or even Native Americans?

The Valdez case was split into several different parts.  One portion involved the Alaskan Native Corporations.  After the Valdez oil spill, the Alaskan Native Corporations sued Exxon over the enormous loss to their primary source of income: the seafood industry.  “Enormous” doesn’t seem adequate.  The losses were devastating, and the numbers don’t lie.  Not only was there a tremendous loss to their fishing income, but land animals were affected as well.  In addition, large portions of the land itself was damaged, including many sacred and archaeological sites.  (Can you really put a dollar amount on something like that?)  The Valdez spill impacted the Native people of Alaska in many, many ways — and Exxon was rightly demanded to be held accountable in the Native Corporation suit against it.

The Alaskan Native Corporations were seeking $120 million in damages — and yes, it was a fair and equitable amount being sought.  But in 1994, an Anchorage Superior Court jury awarded them only $9.7 million.  (While $9.7 million may sound like a large sum, let’s all remember that Exxon isn’t exactly a company that struggles for cashflow.)  In a separate federal court case, the Native Corporations were awarded $4.5 billion (that’s billion with a “b”) in punitive damages — and clearly, the federal jury was sending a message to Exxon and other oil conglomerates about corporate responsibility.

I cheered over the $4.5 billion punitive damages award, but an appeal by Exxon was inevitable.  Corporate responsibility is a lot like the unicorn: everyone has heard about it, but no one has actually ever seen it.

And yes, Exxon continued to fight and appeal — for 17 long years.  Get that?  17 years.  Yes, I can understand from a legal standpoint that Exxon was seeking to reduce their costs as much as possible and pay out what was reasonable and equitable.  But for 17 years?  That is the epitome of overkill.  This is not a company that was in danger of bankruptcy, or one that needed to watch the bottom line.  This is not an innocent company that was passionately defending itself against accusations of wrongdoing.  Exxon’s senseless 17 year crusade may be one of the best examples of litigation abuse that there is.

What you don’t know yet is that nearly twenty years ago, I worked on that case.  Back in the early 90’s, I was employed as a paralegal by a certain international law firm in Los Angeles, California, and for several long months, I worked on the Native Corporation aspect of that case, day in, and day out.  I saw the documents.  I saw the client files.  I heard the conference calls, and saw with my own eyes the amount of money that Exxon was willing to spend to defend every portion of that case.  To put it bluntly: Exxon was far more willing to spend a fortune in legal fees and costs — utilizing not one or two lawyers but a swarm of them – than they were to do the right thing and make restitution to anyone, including the Native Corporations.  (The only thing I can thank Exxon or the Valdez case for is causing an awakening of social, environmental and moral conscience.  My exposure to that case made me question whether I could work on a case I did not believe in, or for a cause I couldn’t support.  That is when I discovered I had the heart of an activist.)

Before opening even a single file on that case, I was required to sign a fairly prohibitive confidentiality agreement, and so I am limited, even now, in what I can or cannot say.

Nothing prohibits me from saying this, though:  Exxon, who are you kidding?  That $100,000 is a drop in the bucket.  You spent far more than that in defending the case with the Native Corporations who were harmed in your negligent oil spill.  So no, I’m not impressed.  Especially not when your company reported over $64 billion in profits for 2008-09, I’m not.  (If we were to include the $41 billion expenditure for the purchase of XTO Energy, we’re talking about $105 billion in profits.)  $100,000 doesn’t seem like quite so much now, does it?

I am sure that the American Indian College Fund is happy and grateful to have received the $100,000 donation.  I am sure the students who will receive those scholarships and grants will be appreciative, as well.

But if anyone else congratulates Exxon for their “act of charity,” or hails them as a philanthropic corporation that is interested in bettering the lives of Native Americans, just know in advance that I *will* be sick to my stomach.

And to the American Indian College Fund, I say this:  By all means, take the money and run.  Do good things with it for as many students as you can.  But never forget that at the end of the day, the Exxon corporation is nothing more than a hypocritical, deep-pocket corporation that is essentially doing nothing more than casting its spare change in your general direction, hoping that people have forgotten by now.  I haven’t.