UnFair Campaign: You can say that again.

I would like to start out by saying that I love everybody equally. I do not dislike anyone because of his race, religion, heritage, clothing, or hair color. Notice that I did not include odor in that list. I do not like unkind smells.
Now that we're on the same page, let's talk about a sensitive topic, especially in my area of the world.

In my city, which fosters three colleges/universities and many a high- and elementary-school, there is a new campaign going on called the Un-Fair Campaign.  You can check it out here. They promote fairness and equality among people and groups of people. This is an excerpt taken from their website:

People of color experience incidents of racism every day, and they have long asked “when will white people in our community stand up and speak out about racism?” This campaign is part of a response to that question. Racial justice will never be achieved until we as white people address white privilege and work to change it.

 This is a great mission, and I absolutely support the idea. But, there is something I don't like about this campaign: their slogans and oppressive billboards. (All photos taken from http://unfaircampaign.org/press-room/media-kit/. I do not own these images.)



There's nothing quite like taking a leisurely drive downtown and being surprised by a huge pair of eyes staring at you from a billboard, explaining that you, a white person, are unable to see racism.
Hang on. Hold the hostility. I understand that the entire goal of the campaign is about helping this area, which is predominantly white (we are in Minnesota, after all,) understand what racism is and identify it so we can politely show it to the door. But, I feel like, if I was going to set up a campaign to try to get people to listen to me and share my views, I wouldn't put down that group in my slogan. "It's hard to see racism when you're white."
I don't like that. I feel offended by it. I can certainly identify racism. I can see when it happens, and I can understand that different minorities are often given less of a chance at bank loans, jobs, and other opportunities. I feel I am not alone in that. (Maybe I am. Who knows.) This slogan feels, to me, like what some people choose to call reverse racism. I prefer to think of it as simply "racism," because, by definition, racism is discrimination or prejudice against an ethnic, religious, or racial group. Or, to be conservative, perhaps we might call this more of a prejudice. Either way, I feel that this slogan is very offensive to white people, indicating that we are so racist that we can't possibly see when racism is happening. Because we all sit on our front porches with shotguns waiting for a person of color to look at us wrong.

I like to just think of this as an opportunity to love everybody just because. Why should we need to single out a particular race or color of people? Why can't we love the white people, too?
Again, I'd like to reiterate that I absolutely support the goals and motives of the UnFair Campaign. I love to love as much as the next person. I just choose to express it in a different way.
I mean no offense by this blog post. I just gotta be heard, ya heard?

And, to lighten the mood and enhance the beginning to your weekend, please enjoy this very wonderful video that I found while watching the BBC.
(Don't be scared away by the a'capella potato singing at the beginning. It's brief.)