I don’t like to play the race card at the drop of a hat because then its effectiveness becomes diluted when it really is needed (sort of a lá the boy that cried wolf). But I also appreciate it when racism is so blatant that I don’t have to dig through subtle dialogue and theories to flush it out, saves me brain power and extra work. So I have to thank Bloomberg Businessweek for making this an easy one.
Emily Badger at The Atlantic Cities (yea, we’re jocking them today) writes “we still can’t decide what’s most offensive about it: the caricature of the busty, sassy Latina, the barefooted black man waving cash out his window, that woman in the upstairs left-hand corner who looks about as dim-witted as her dog?” There’s absolutely no problem with having illustrated “minorities” on the cover, the presence of blacks and latinos doesn’t automatically make it racial, but it’s the way in wich they’re caricatured and depicted. And worse yet, apparently the article inside has nothing to do with race, the “piece makes no mention of the racial dynamics of the housing market, or the role of predatory lending.”
Read the rest of Emily Badger’s great write up, here.
