Thoughtlessness

Earlier this month Dove posted an ad that was deemed insensitive. It seemed to be a before and after with the before being a black woman and the after being a white woman, leaving the impression that cleansing would turn you from black to white. They apologized and made the typical statement about it not being intentional, etc. In all honesty it probably wasn’t “intentional” but it’s too common and a sign of something subconscious. If it wasn’t we’d have examples of the opposite, the black person portrayed in the more positive position. Unfortunately time and time again it’s the same.

Again, I don’t think this is usually intentional, but it’s in a blind spot. As a black man I have the odd or unique position of being on the disadvantaged side of racism and advantaged side of sexism. Being on both sides makes me think about things from multiple angles. I see some of the things my female friends go through and see they were hurt by others thoughtlessness and do my best to realize some of the things I go through are also due to thoughtlessness instead of maliciousness. Intentional or not, many actions still need to be addressed, but hopefully moving from malicious to thoughtless is a step in the right direction.