Opposition to Duluth Anti-Racism Campaign Grows
Posted at: 01/31/2012 5:51 PM
| Updated at: 01/31/2012 11:29 PM
By: Alan Hoglund
ahoglund@wdio.com
A Duluth campaign causing an increasing amount of controversy will continue, for now. The anti-racism effort called the "Un-Fair Campaign" is designed to create discussion, but faces criticism from many angles.
The growth of criticism is happening online, on Facebook. The slogan "it's hard to see racism when you're white" is what's sparked the controversy.
The campaign is just days old, and already a Facebook group wants it shut down. Created Monday morning, it's got hundreds of fans and it's growing.
Phil Pierson, a group co-creator, told Eyewitness News the campaign stereotypes whites as racists.
Pierson said, "it spreads animosity and hate, teaches a new generation to point fingers and focus on the color of our skin instead of the idea that we're all human, and we're all in this together."
The group's other co-creator, Leslie Bruns, said the problem isn't with fighting racism, just the way this campaign is addressing it. She told us the group just wants the billboards put up as part of the campaign, to come down. Each says "it's hard to see racism when you're white."
The City of Duluth supports the campaign. Since it launched Thursday, Mayor Don Ness said he has received more than 100 emails from white supremacist groups around the world. He wouldn't show us the emails, or discuss their tone.
"When we talk about my experience, it's not important," Ness said. "This is about the difficulty of talking about issues of race."
Ness said he supports the campaign because constructive dialogue about racism is necessary. "Racism does exist. It exists in our nation. It exists in our world and it exists right here in Duluth," he said.
Ness said the city didn't help pay for the campaign, despite other media reports. He said the city didn't create it either. But still, his Facebook page is flooded with comments. As of Tuesday evening, comments both criticizing and supporting the campaign, were fairly equal in number.
Eyewitness News talked with several of the 15 organizations that back the campaign. We learned Community Action Duluth will not stop, even if the campaign sees more criticism.
Angie Miller, the Executive Director for the organization, said "there is no way, no how we are backing out of this campaign."
Miller clarified the message of billboards. "The billboards say it's hard to see racism when you're white. It doesn't say you are racist if you're white," she explained.
Pierson, however, said those billboards only point blame and perpetuate the problem. "If you want to fix racism, stop making a point of it," he said.
All groups involved in the campaign will meet at the end of the week to discuss its future.
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