Here's what can happen when non-profits start relying on corporate sponsorships: Lee Fang reports that three interns at the Organization for Chinese Americans were
fired for criticizing Walmart:
Lisa Lei, a student at the University of California, Irvine and one of the former OCA interns fired for disrespecting Walmart, told The Nation that she had raised concerns about Walmart’s efforts to build a new store in downtown Los Angeles, near Chinatown, at a meeting with coworkers. She says she was shut down by her supervisor and told not to criticize the organization’s sponsors.
Later, at the OCA convention in July, which was underwritten in part by Walmart and attended by Walmart’s outreach staff, Lei and two other interns posted a short Instagram video of themselves making a rude gesture about Walmart. The video, which was cross-posted onto one of the intern’s personal Facebook accounts, was discovered, and according to the interns, OCA staff swiftly summoned the students involved. The video was deleted off both of their personal social media accounts. The next morning, says Lei, “We were not given any time to ask why and were told it was because of the video. In less than ten minutes, I was escorted out of the hotel. Within thirty minutes, all three of us were watched and escorted out of the hotel.”
And more: