I am writing as a multi-racial woman with three children who has a unique perspective on the Un-Fair Campaign and its billboards.
My complexion is much darker than that of my children. I often am mistaken for being Hispanic or Arab. However, my children all have a very fair complexion and often are mistaken for being "white." In truth, we are mixed with black, white and Native ancestry.
The Un-Fair Campaign is unfair because it assumes that skin color alone assumes your racial background and does not consider that America in 2012 is largely a mixed country whose citizenry represent cultures from all corners of the world.
Further, its language is divisive, pitting people against each other based on skin color. Mixed people are then forced to choose one race over the other and somehow act like or prove that they belong. This is not only offensive but is damaging the self-esteem and psyche of every American citizen.
I am proud to be mixed because my existence shows how much America has progressed: My father's family came from black/Native sharecroppers in the deep South; my mother's family includes some of the earliest pioneers to arrive in Minnesota. That two completely opposite families can merge clearly shows that race is not an issue. What makes a family -- or a community -- comes from the heart.
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These billboards should be removed and replaced with images and stories that truly represent the rich, multi-cultural America in which we now live.
Lynn Ford
St. Paul, Minn.
