"Colored Visitors" Click Here

It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It's one of those days that causes me to reflect on the state of the union, so to speak, and question if we've really come that far. Living here in little ol' Green Bay, racial tensions are something that we don't deal with nearly as much as other more densely populated areas. Like it or not, folks see a black man around here, and they automatically think "which Packers player is that?"

This article from Clickz talks about a commemorative site launched today by DDB Seattle (an ad agency) to bring awareness to the day and the issues surrounding it.

The site is RememberSegregation.org, and according to the Clickz article, "the idea behind the experience is to create an online approximation of what life was like for millions of blacks and whites in the segregation era."

The creatives behind the site said they wanted to create a sense of discomfort. "…This campaign is intended to make people stop, think and perhaps get a little uncomfortable in the process of realizing the modern day importance of Dr. King's life," said John Livengood, executive creative director at DDB Seattle, in a statement.

Powerful stuff. It's intriguing to me that so many folks in this area harbor such prejudiced feelings (racist, homophobic, sexist, etc). I guess it has to do with NOT having any exposure to folks of different ethnic backgrounds. Attitudes are shaped by the negative portrayals in the media, and the perpetuation of stereotypes.