Posted on 03/02/2005 8:03:00 PM PST by Huntress
Clinton Wynn called outraged over a “sweet” book he had picked up at a Hallmark store.
It's titled Dads: A Celebration of Fatherhood. On the cover is a black-and-white picture of a man in a 1950s wide-rimmed hat, white shirt, suit and tie. He is running, holding hands with a boy in shorts and a girl in a dress. They're all smiling.
The back of the book says: “Our earliest hero; our proudest supporter; our most devoted protector; Dad is the steadfast heart of the family. Celebrating the deep, enduring love he gives and the joy he brings, this charming book is a tribute to doting dads and the unbreakable bond of fatherhood.”
What's not to love about that? Wynn, whom I've known for years, persuaded me to buy a copy of the “cute little book.”
That's when I realized why he was so upset. The book is filled with touching black-and-white pictures from the 1920s through the 1980s. They are of children and their dads, including one from the TV series “Father Knows Best.” The quotes are outstanding, too.
One from Walt Whitman says: “I throw myself upon your breast, my father, I cling to you so that you cannot unloose me … Kiss me, my father, Touch me with your lips, as I touch those I love, Breathe to me, while I hold you close.”
The accompanying 1955 photo is of a boy and girl in a park running into a man's outstretched arms. But noticeably missing in this wonderful little book are children and fathers of color.
That's what upset Wynn. None of the people in this book compiled by Rose O'Kelly is African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American or American Indian.
It's not as if people of color didn't exist in the 20th century. They helped build America, shouldering some of the heaviest, dirtiest and most dangerous loads.
But minorities then and now often are invisible in the media, in books, in what our children learn in schools.
I liked what Cheryl Brown Henderson, president of the Brown Foundation, said at the fall National Association for Multicultural Education Conference in Kansas City: “ ‘Leave It to Beaver' was not a documentary.”
But many people view that hit '50s and '60s TV show as if it were. That was the image projected of America. It's tragic that the “Gift Book from Hallmark” does so, too.
It's also disappointing because it's a reversal of what Hallmark was doing in the mid-'90s, when it started a new line of cards aimed at the growing African-American, Hispanic and Jewish markets.
Gail Baker Woods, in her book, Advertising and Marketing to the New Majority, wrote that smart companies like Hallmark were reaching into the markets of racial and ethnic diversity. They see gold in directing products to long-ignored consumers of color, featuring people in ads and programming who looked like them.
“Ethnic markets can be lucrative sources of untapped consumer dollars,” Woods wrote. “They are big and growing bigger.”
But since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, people of color are disappearing from images that the media project. It's as if we don't exist at a time when the nation is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse.
Dads: A Celebration of Fatherhood just drives that painful point home even though African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and American Indian men are fathers, too. We are workers, husbands and dads, and we deeply love our children and care about their health, safety, education, well-being and future. We want this country to live up to its ideals for them beyond what America has done for us, our fathers and their fathers.
Kristi Ernsting, Hallmark Cards Inc. spokeswoman, acknowledged that Dads, which Hallmark purchased from MQ Productions, lacks racial and ethnic diversity. “Based on your friend's comments, we realize we could do a better job in respect to dads,” Ernsting said.
“We do really appreciate hearing from people,” Ernsting said. “We want all of our products to reflect what people want and to reflect our entire consumer base.”
She brought another Hallmark gift book to me that does. It's titled Father Knows Best: Funny and True Tales of Fatherhood.
Dads, however, also should include wonderful quotes and pictures of men of color and their beautiful children.
Men of color and their children in a nation that's open and honest about its diversity should never be left out of books like Dads again.
Lewis W. Diuguid is a member of The Star's Editorial Board. To reach him, call (816) 234-4723 or send e-mail to Ldiuguid@kcstar.com.
I had the same complaint about the movie "Barbershop"
Neither was 'The Cosby Show'
But since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, people of color are disappearing from images that the media project. It's as if we don't exist at a time when the nation is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse.
This sounds like a load of Hillary.
The only people I know that pay attention to color are those of color. I don't get it. Aren't we all supposed to be color blind- isn't that the goal?
I guess thats the end of reruns of The Jeffersons.
I know the book, I gave it to my father.
Thin skinned lefty alert is warrented.
How about "undercover brother"? Fighting a conspiracy to turn all black people into virtual honkeys?
I think he doth protest too much.
(sarcasm on)Perhaps they should make a black person tv channel so black people can be as racist as they like. (Sarcasm off)
Good Lord No. Where did you ever get that rediculous idea? Only white heterosexual males are supposed to be colorblind. Everyone else is supposed to wield their race like a bludgeon to extract things they haven't earned and don't appreciate. You are obviously an unenlightened knuckle-dragger.
Now there's equal-opportunity fatherlessness, hope he's happy.
As a "person of color" I say, Get over it! Not one of those pictures would cause me not to think of my father.
This guy needs to get a grip, as he is clearly looking for something to upset him. There is clearly no harm or offense intended from this book. Besides, must EVERYTHING reflect 'diversity' these days for it to have any value, or for it to avoid the apparently grave crime of offending someone?
This brings to mind that episode of South Park where the boys were sent to a diversity education camp where respect for diversity was enforced at gun point.
Well, other then the fact that the war on poverty destroyed the black family and made black fathers superfluous, it sounds like someone's trying to tell people what they can publish.
If the dude who's whining wants a book with men and lesbians of color depicted as fathers, let him get his own publishing deal.
Are. It should be "are". Plural, stupid. *grumble*
On a serious side... It always amazes me what people get away with when they play the "racism" card. It's insane. And if you challenge them once they've cried racism, guess what that makes you? Racist! You add gasoline to their fire. It's stupid, not to mention pathetic.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's getting to be where the sarcasm tag is left off.
I think "none ... is" works fine. "None" is the same as "not one," ain't it? :)
It would not surprise me if Hallmark has other versions for blacks, hispanics, asians, etc. They tend to sell things like that. One Hallmark store downtown has very large selections of greeting cards, etc specifically for blacks and nothing specifically for whites because the demographics in the inner city can support that customer base.
"As a "person of color" I say, Get over it! Not one of those pictures would cause me not to think of my father."
Bravo. And I suppose this professional victim would expect me to be "upset" if this sweet little book contained only black, hispanic, eskimo, martian, or any combination thereof? Please.
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