Is This Racist

Syl wrote:It doesn't look racist to me....I had to read just why it was considered so.

Mind you I am not black with a chip on my shoulder.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Syl wrote:It doesn't look racist to me....I had to read just why it was considered so.

Mind you I am not black with a chip on my shoulder.

Or a black person with an arm on your head.

eddie wrote:Ok I looked

One girl is taller than the other, that's all  and the mums making a scene are dickheads and I bet they make a scene about everything to do with "racism"

"You want my daughter to wear BLACK shoes for school???? Is it cos she's BLACK??"

"No ma'am, they all wear black shoes to the school....."

"That's racist!"

Fuck off.

Original Quill wrote:Each situation is different.  But you have to look at the intent.  Communication is nothing if not the intent behind a statement.

I don't think GAP had any intent to create a racial statement with this ad.  Was there something subliminal going on?  If there was, I haven't heard anyone articulate it, let alone defend it.

4EVER2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Ok I looked

One girl is taller than the other, that's all  and the mums making a scene are dickheads and I bet they make a scene about everything to do with "racism"

"You want my daughter to wear BLACK shoes for school???? Is it cos she's BLACK??"

"No ma'am, they all wear black shoes to the school....."

"That's racist!"

Fuck off.

Back in my college years...{circa 1970's} we had a seminar over racial equality---and the university had a group of diverse speakers come to store our SOULS; the main speaker was a young black women from Berkeley College, CA.  
Oh, yaaaa baby...her opening statesment was all about the Black Panther movement...you could have heard a pen drop in that lecture hall. Then she dived right into a diatribe about her success in getting out of the 'GHETTO' and never looking back; shortly there after she ended her speel with 'I've left time for some question and answer time from the audience'...{the silence was more like a ROAR of white noise}---
I raised my hand and on shaky legs...asked her; "so why exactly are you never going back to your home area to show other girls what they can achieve, despite the race barriers you've had to over come?"  Audible Gasps were heard all around me...and my seat buddy started pulling me back down, pleading with me to SIT DOWN!!!  Anyway, that opened the flood gates and a lively discussion was had by many of not afraid to put a voice to our ignorance...and she talked for another 1-2 hours!  She admitted that even within her own family the COLOR of ones skin could be an advantage or a hinderance and she wasn't nearly as radical as we naive Midwest country girls had feared.
End of story...but there's a moral in there some where

4EVER2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Ok I looked

One girl is taller than the other, that's all  and the mums making a scene are dickheads and I bet they make a scene about everything to do with "racism"

"You want my daughter to wear BLACK shoes for school???? Is it cos she's BLACK??"

"No ma'am, they all wear black shoes to the school....."

"That's racist!"

Fuck off.

Back in my college years...{circa 1970's} we had a seminar over racial equality---and the university had a group of diverse speakers come to store our SOULS; the main speaker was a young black women from Berkeley College, CA.  
Oh, yaaaa baby...her opening statesment was all about the Black Panther movement...you could have heard a pen drop in that lecture hall. Then she dived right into a diatribe about her success in getting out of the 'GHETTO' and never looking back; shortly there after she ended her speel with 'I've left time for some question and answer time from the audience'...{the silence was more like a ROAR of white noise}---
I raised my hand and on shaky legs...asked her; "so why exactly are you never going back to your home area to show other girls what they can achieve, despite the race barriers you've had to over come?"  Audible Gasps were heard all around me...and my seat buddy started pulling me back down, pleading with me to SIT DOWN!!!  Anyway, that opened the flood gates and a lively discussion was had by many of not afraid to put a voice to our ignorance...and she talked for another 1-2 hours!  She admitted that even within her own family the COLOR of ones skin could be an advantage or a hinderance and she wasn't nearly as radical as we naive Midwest country girls had feared.
End of story...but there's a moral in there some where

4EVER2 wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Each situation is different.  But you have to look at the intent.  Communication is nothing if not the intent behind a statement.

I don't think GAP had any intent to create a racial statement with this ad.  Was there something subliminal going on?  If there was, I haven't heard anyone articulate it, let alone defend it.

Did you read some of those twitter comments??? OMG' scroll down and review some of those

4EVER2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Ok I looked

One girl is taller than the other, that's all  and the mums making a scene are dickheads and I bet they make a scene about everything to do with "racism"

"You want my daughter to wear BLACK shoes for school???? Is it cos she's BLACK??"

"No ma'am, they all wear black shoes to the school....."

"That's racist!"

Fuck off.

Back in my college years...{circa 1970's} we had a seminar over racial equality---and the university had a group of diverse speakers come to store our SOULS; the main speaker was a young black women from Berkeley College, CA.  
Oh, yaaaa baby...her opening statesment was all about the Black Panther movement...you could have heard a pen drop in that lecture hall. Then she dived right into a diatribe about her success in getting out of the 'GHETTO' and never looking back; shortly there after she ended her speel with 'I've left time for some question and answer time from the audience'...{the silence was more like a ROAR of white noise}---
I raised my hand and on shaky legs...asked her; "so why exactly are you never going back to your home area to show other girls what they can achieve, despite the race barriers you've had to over come?"  Audible Gasps were heard all around me...and my seat buddy started pulling me back down, pleading with me to SIT DOWN!!!  Anyway, that opened the flood gates and a lively discussion was had by many of not afraid to put a voice to our ignorance...and she talked for another 1-2 hours!  She admitted that even within her own family the COLOR of ones skin could be an advantage or a hinderance and she wasn't nearly as radical as we naive Midwest country girls had feared.
End of story...but there's a moral in there some where

eddie wrote:You know what is a shame?? That the girls were probably all really excited about doing that Ad and modelling for that....and it's basically been spoilt for them, particularly for the black girl who will now be confused as to what her role was, when it was simply for being a beauty in an advert for clothes.

eddie wrote:You know what is a shame?? That the girls were probably all really excited about doing that Ad and modelling for that....and it's basically been spoilt for them, particularly for the black girl who will now be confused as to what her role was, when it was simply for being a beauty in an advert for clothes.

Original Quill wrote:

4EVER2 wrote:
Back in my college years...{circa 1970's} we had a seminar over racial equality---and the university had a group of diverse speakers come to store our SOULS; the main speaker was a young black women from Berkeley College, CA.  
Oh, yaaaa baby...her opening statesment was all about the Black Panther movement...you could have heard a pen drop in that lecture hall. Then she dived right into a diatribe about her success in getting out of the 'GHETTO' and never looking back; shortly there after she ended her speel with 'I've left time for some question and answer time from the audience'...{the silence was more like a ROAR of white noise}---
I raised my hand and on shaky legs...asked her; "so why exactly are you never going back to your home area to show other girls what they can achieve, despite the race barriers you've had to over come?"  Audible Gasps were heard all around me...and my seat buddy started pulling me back down, pleading with me to SIT DOWN!!!  Anyway, that opened the flood gates and a lively discussion was had by many of not afraid to put a voice to our ignorance...and she talked for another 1-2 hours!  She admitted that even within her own family the COLOR of ones skin could be an advantage or a hinderance and she wasn't nearly as radical as we naive Midwest country girls had feared.
End of story...but there's a moral in there some where

I'll bet she was Kathleen Neal Cleaver, wife of Eldridge Cleaver.  She used to hold sway at the Student Union auditorium at Berkeley, where I went to university.  Eldridge was a former Black Panther and Kathleen was secretary the Party, which started in next-door Oakland.  She became a lecturer of Black Studies at Yale University and professor of law at the prestigious Emory Law School.

BTW, there is no Berkeley College.  It's the University of California at Berkeley, usually shortened to Berkeley.

sassy wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I'll bet she was Kathleen Neal Cleaver, wife of Eldridge Cleaver.  She used to hold sway at the Student Union auditorium at Berkeley, where I went to university.  Eldridge was a former Black Panther and Kathleen was secretary the Party, which started in next-door Oakland.  She became a lecturer of Black Studies at Yale University and professor of law at the prestigious Emory Law School.

BTW, there is no Berkeley College.  It's the University of California at Berkeley, usually shortened to Berkeley.

This her?

4EVER2 wrote:

sassy wrote:

This her?

Well, the name certainly rang a couple of bells but her face for sure did...but she didn't have all that 'Fro' look when she spoke to us; she was wearing a traditional turban --- very beautiful in printed/vibrant color.

And for Christ Sake...OQ, so I got the name of the college wrong; SWEET JESUS, I was feeling pretty freak'n proud that I could spell it correctly

Lord Foul wrote:

eddie wrote:You know what is a shame?? That the girls were probably all really excited about doing that Ad and modelling for that....and it's basically been spoilt for them, particularly for the black girl who will now be confused as to what her role was, when it was simply for being a beauty in an advert for clothes.

nicko wrote:Storm in a tea cup.

didge wrote:And this is fundamentally the problem with how some on the left are rendering the combating of real racism substantially weakened. When they look to find racism, when none actually existed in a picture

Where there is real growing racism today in Europe. The leftist BBC makes excuses and downplays the seriousness of it, even though people are leaving in substantial numbers.
Yet when its something unfounded and born from some those on the regressive left. Who can only see non white racism only. They imagine and claim racism, from something clearly done unintentionally.

I mean what about then inventing a claim of racism towards Aussies represented by the upside down kid doing a handstand in the picture?
He is beneath everyone using this methodology claimed this is being racist.
he is not equal to the rest of the world and not allowed to stand upright. Thus classed then as lower even than blacks, using again this absurd reasoning to claim racism here..

As i say its nonsense like this that does nothing in the challenge of combating racism. It instead weakens the fight to eradicate through good reasoning.

Stormee wrote:So called 'racism' will NEVER go away.

Whitiz do not care much for blackiz and blackiz do not care much for whitiz in general.

To me, it seems a bigger problem today than I ever remember it, the Race Relations Board did not help

Syl wrote:Am I the only one who never really notices colour till it's mentioned?
I was describing someone the other day....she is tallish, dark curly hair, about 40 ....the woman I was talking to seemed baffled. She wears a red coat a lot.....is friends with so and so....still baffled, then she said "Is she black"?....she is, but it hadn't even occurred to me that she was.

sassy wrote:

Syl wrote:Am I the only one who never really notices colour till it's mentioned?
I was describing someone the other day....she is tallish, dark curly hair, about 40 ....the woman I was talking to seemed baffled. She wears a red coat a lot.....is friends with so and so....still baffled, then she said "Is she black"?....she is, but it hadn't even occurred to me that she was.

No, you aren't the only one, I do the same.

Syl wrote:

sassy wrote:


No, you aren't the only one, I do the same.

I bet loads of people are the same Sassy....only on forums does colour get mentioned every day.

eddie wrote:The first thing I'd say is "The tall black lady"

Everyone sees colour. If she was white I'd say "The tall lady with brown hair and glasses/big lips/always wears red coat/whatever else is obvious"

I mention the first thing that's obvious about someone that distinguishes them from someone else.

If it was a description between two black women I'd say "not the tall one the shorter one who has a limp"

Everyone picks out the most obviously physical thing about someone.

My black mate, when describing between a bunch of white women would say to me "You know edds, the fat /thin/blonde/tall/woman"

Original Quill wrote:

didge wrote:And this is fundamentally the problem with how some on the left are rendering the combating of real racism substantially weakened. When they look to find racism, when none actually existed in a picture

Where there is real growing racism today in Europe. The leftist BBC makes excuses and downplays the seriousness of it, even though people are leaving in substantial numbers.
Yet when its something unfounded and born from some those on the regressive left. Who can only see non white racism only. They imagine and claim racism, from something clearly done unintentionally.

I mean what about then inventing a claim of racism towards Aussies represented by the upside down kid doing a handstand in the picture?
He is beneath everyone using this methodology claimed this is being racist.
he is not equal to the rest of the world and not allowed to stand upright. Thus classed then as lower even than blacks, using again this absurd reasoning to claim racism here..

As i say its nonsense like this that does nothing in the challenge of combating racism. It instead weakens the fight to eradicate through good reasoning.

In defense of those who look immediately for 'alternate' meanings, the RW is really good at creating false façades and speaking in code.  They don't talk about black people; they speak of 'welfare recipients'.  They have stock generalities, like they's gud dancers and y'all know how they lie.  When a white cop shoots a black man, he inevitably says he was resisting arrest, even when the guy was bound and hogtied.  When Charleston Officer Michael Slager fired eight times as he murdered a black Walter Scott, he had to drop his taser beside the dead body in order to claim Scott was threatening him.  You can hardly blame the left. The RW always has their little bag of lies to absolve them of their sins.  You can't trust the right...deception drips off of them.

Its worth the time for the left to search this sort of ad for coded meaning.  What is the message?  Are blacks good props, is that the meaning?  I think in this case, a major shortfall was the failure of the real message to come through, that these kids were spelling GAP.  This left a gap (pardon the pun) inviting the speculation as to what they were trying to do.  Inevitably, that led to a focus on the racial differences.  I think it's unfortunate.

didge wrote:

Original Quill wrote:
In defense of those who look immediately for 'alternate' meanings, the RW is really good at creating false façades and speaking in code.  They don't talk about black people; they speak of 'welfare recipients'.  They have stock generalities, like they's gud dancers and y'all know how they lie.  When a white cop shoots a black man, he inevitably says he was resisting arrest, even when the guy was bound and hogtied.  When Charleston Officer Michael Slager fired eight times as he murdered a black Walter Scott, he had to drop his taser beside the dead body in order to claim Scott was threatening him.  You can hardly blame the left. The RW always has their little bag of lies to absolve them of their sins.  You can't trust the right...deception drips off of them.

Its worth the time for the left to search this sort of ad for coded meaning.  What is the message?  Are blacks good props, is that the meaning?  I think in this case, a major shortfall was the failure of the real message to come through, that these kids were spelling GAP.  This left a gap (pardon the pun) inviting the speculation as to what they were trying to do.  Inevitably, that led to a focus on the racial differences.  I think it's unfortunate.

What message?
Lets be honest, a few people have seen this picture., wrongly shout racism, when they is no overt racism within this picture .I can view this picture completely different and clearly if you look more closely her elbow is not even resting on the on the other kids head. She is not even leaning towards that side but fully upright, where you could easily argue she is just stroking back her hair. only her head is tilted to the left, but people can see what ever they want to create from a picture. Sadly with the far left they just invent racism, when there is none
The problem is some people see racism, when there is no racism.





http://www.glamour.com/story/ellen-degeneres-gapkids-ed


Now look at the photo from the year previously and this time its a black boy and his arm is resting on the white girls head.

Its just kids being told to look a certain way for a photo shoot. I doubt as well Gap even foresaw how this would have the far left create something out of nothing

A black film director added a new twist to the story. Matthew A. Cherry tweeted a picture from an old Gap ad campaign that showed a tall black girl resting her arm on the head of a shorter white girl, side by side with the new image. "Does the pic on the left make the pic on the right OK?" he asked. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35968787 

eddie wrote:We aren't talking about a famous person though?but if I couldn't think of her name and I was trying to say something about her I'd say "She's a singer, she's black and she sang that song about being upside down"

(Actually I'd just say the Singer who did "upside down")

I think you'll find it faster to eliminate people if you narrow it down to colour. Just makes sense and I bet years ago you did it.

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:We aren't talking about a famous person though?but if I couldn't think of her name and I was trying to say something about her I'd say "She's a singer, she's black and she sang that song about being upside down"

(Actually I'd just say the Singer who did "upside down")

I think you'll find it faster to eliminate people if you narrow it down to colour. Just makes sense and I bet years ago you did it.

I have probably always been the same. Manchester has always been a mix of everyone.
I'm not saying I deliberately leave out a persons colour when describing them....I just don't usually think of it.