Thank you so much for this article. I had the same thought as you when I initially saw your images: “Damn — it’s all whitewashed”. But a moment’s thought brought me to the same conclusion you made.
Thing is, you are absolutely right: We want to be able to imagine ourselves in these roles, which is hard to do if we don’t see ourselves in those images. Your analysis of that problem, I think, is spot on.
How can I say the following without seeming self serving? It is not my intention. It is a comment from one intelligent human being to another, as two brains talking, not the bodies they are wrapped in. Please take the following this way.
I appreciate how hard you worked to draw a balanced point of view, and not simply attack the system as biased. It’s a complex problem, and deserves complex analysis. I don’t want to promote the fallacy that life is easy for white men — ask anyone I know. I work like a dog, and though I know that I have certain standing advantages that have nothing to do with my effort, that does not mean that I — and so many more like me- do not work ridiculously hard. I feel like your article made an effort to recognize that and I thank you.
The result is — I take your article as a call to action, an inspiring opportunity to make a difference and share the world I know with so many others. I dream of that world.
A pastor of mine once asked me, “Imagine a brand new shopping mall, guilded and showered in wealth. And right next to it, a slum, filled with impoverished people. Do you wish to tear down the mall and help the poor? Or do you wish to share the world that built that mall, with the poor?” It was an eye-opening question. Do we tear down those who have an advantage we don’t have — or do we work hard to share it with everyone we can, and thereby pull everyone up?
I prefer option #2.
