As we all know, due to systemic racism, black people have to work more than twice as hard as white people (which is why Ethnic Studies professors are so exhausted all the time). To raise awareness of this often-replicated finding of social science, the Spanish post office issued a set of stamps in varying flesh tones that require more than two of the black ones to match the white one.
But that didn’t work out as planned: From the Washington Post:
Skin-tone stamps released by Spain’s postal service this week as part of an anti-racism campaign have sparked a furor.
By Rick Noack
May 27, 2021 at 11:04 a.m. PDTSpain’s postal service prompted widespread criticism this week after introducing skin-tone stamps — with the lightest ones being the most valuable — and promoting them as part of an anti-racism campaign.
“The darker the stamp, the less value it will have,” the state-owned company, called Correos, said in a news release announcing the launch. “Therefore, when making a shipment, it will be necessary to use more black stamps than white ones. That way, each letter and each shipment will become a reflection of the inequality created by racism.”
A black stamp is worth 70 cents in the company’s online shop, while a stamp in the lightest skin color costs 1.60 euros.
But that kind of Grievance Studies M.A.–level think is way too clever. The Racial Reckoning is based on childish “What’s your favorite color?” level thinking.
Critics say the campaign reflects tone-deafness and the lack of diversity in major Spanish companies.
“Accidentally racist,” one social media user commented. Another user wrote, “Accidentally VOX,” referring to Spain’s far-right Vox party.
Correos’s intention “was good,” acknowledged Moha Gerehou, author of “What’s a Black Man Like You Doing in a Place Like This,” a recently published book on racism in Spain. But Gerehou said it is no coincidence that a well-intentioned anti-racism campaign had ended up sending a racist message.
Such campaigns in Spain, Gerehou said, are often shaped “mostly by white people” because major enterprises lag behind on the diversification of their workforces.
On its Twitter account, the postal service said its campaign was aimed at raising awareness about “an unfair and painful reality that should not exist.”...
In releasing the stamps, Correos collaborated with SOS Racismo, a federation of Spanish anti-racism nongovernmental organizations, and with Spanish activist and rapper El Chojín.
“We have seen it these days in Ceuta, we see it every day in the Mediterranean, in the growing xenophobic and racist discourses that are taking hold in Europe,” it added.In a statement, SOS Racismo said the campaign’s intention was “to make this reality [of racial discrimination] visible.”
In other words, Spain is so racist that it sometimes turns away Africans trying to get into Spain.
SOS Racismo was referring to dramatic scenes in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this month involving thousands of migrants desperately attempting to reach European Union territory from neighboring Morocco.
