WASHINGTON —In an Aug. 13 letter to Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, JACL National Director Floyd Mori chided the Spanish men’s basketball team for its pose in an advertisement in a leading Spanish newspaper, which many found to be racially offensive.

The advertisement, which shows members of the basketball team pulling back the corners of their eyes, was shot prior to the Olympics for Seur, a courier company that sponsors the team.

Mori noted that the Spanish basketball team performs in the international arena, where they come into contact with fans and opposing players from around the world, so there is “an expectation that the Spanish team will regard their opponents and the people of other nations with dignity and respect, especially within a world of human diversity.”

Although the basketball team has apologized for the incident, individuals connected to the team have not apologized, indicating that no harm was meant and that the pose was intended as a joke.

Spanish basketball player Jose Manuel Calderon, who plays for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, stated that he thought the photograph and the gesture would be “interpreted as somewhat loving.”

Mori argued that the team’s behavior defies a tenet of the Olympic movement that promotes peace and the preservation of human dignity. He went on to say that “it is a lesson that the organizers of the Spanish Olympic Committee need to be mindful of as they pursue their bid to serve as hosts in 2016.”

Madrid is one of four sites under consideration for the 2016 Olympics.

The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) and the Committee of 100 (C-100), two national organizations serving the Chinese American and Asian Pacific American community, also spoke out.

“The photograph is offensive to people of Asian and Chinese descent. It was a poor decision for these professional athletes to make this historically denigrating gesture and it was a poorer decision for the team sponsor and the Spanish paper to put it in print,” said OCA National President Ginny Gong. “And it is disturbing that neither the Olympic athletes nor their sponsors have adequately apologized for their decisions.”

“Even if this image was produced without any ill will, its effects are still damaging,” said C-100 Chairman John L. Fugh, a retired Army general. “It affects individuals of Chinese descent, as well as others of Asian descent who also have experienced the same mockery, and it also affects the relationships among communities and nations.”

George C. Wu, OCA’s deputy director, added, “As Asian Pacific Americans support the U.S. Olympic athletes, many of whom are Asian Pacific Americans, it is disturbing to OCA that Spain’s basketball team would introduce such offensive and divisive imagery into the Olympics.

“Highly regarded NBA players like Pau Gasol and Calderon need to also understand that these gestures are often associated with bullying and taunting in schools and are harmful to the communities that support their teams.”

OCA and C-100 said they will continue to monitor the actions of the participants in the Olympics and the media coverage of the Olympics.