From a reader:
Have any black people spoken about the ad? I am curious. As a black person, and one whose friends, a majority anyway, are black, we never thought that all school photos need blacks in them to be non-racist or that all white ones implied racism, especially photos from schools in the middle of no where. OK, maybe no where is wrong, but certainly not the center of the black population. If montana colleges have brochures without blacks in it so what? Its more offensive when they make the 1 or 2 black kids who go there appear in every photo, like we are a significant presence at the school. We realize, unlike liberal whites, that we are not everywhere… we do get annoyed when tv shows in NYC show no blacks, hispanics, or asians and we are a huge percentage of NYC’s population. If Montana, North Dakota, or those midwest states most people have a hard time placing on a map have schools or any school for that matter, want to have a pic without blacks so what. Now if the university of mississippi did that same add, I might think something was up given its actual history.
I wonder do travel ads for dean’s vermont show the 3 black people living in the state, on their brochures?