01.22.08
Subconscious Race
On page D3 in the local section of today’s Wisconsin State Journal was an article about a Blackhawk Technical College brochure. Its cover featured a photograph of adults and two children with a caption that originally said, “A Family Affair: BTC is the perfect fit for the White family.”
This, quite reasonably, drew some complaints as being a rather poor choice of phrasing. The State Journal asked an expert:
Bob Baldwin, a diversity specialist for the Janesville School District, who is black, said most black people would have a problem with the wording.“That’s kind of a natural thing — when you’re white, you don’t think about these things,” Baldwin said. “And people need to start thinking about these things beyond their own comfort level — you know, what about the other folks?”
There’s nothing quite like a generalization about white people to help illustrate his point.