F ³: Dîner en Blanc

Have you seen this photo?

Kristen Bell shares photo of Idaho dinner party with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Jason Bateman, Adam Scott, John Mulaney, Olivia Munn, Jake Tapper and Jimmy Fallon. 

Photo: Instagram/@kristenanniebell

It has been making the rounds on Twitter. When it caught my eye it reminded me of my Dairy Queen post.

The Dairy Queen Question, Village Green/Town², October, 2022

As with the DQ meme, when I look at this photo, one thing leaps out: how relentlessly, exclusively white it is. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

Twitter has been aswirl with responses from people who frequently find themselves in the excluded categories. Their descriptions are witty but they also carry pain from personal experience. Some white folks have been enraged by this. They maintain that it is noticing race which is racist. They ignore the deep experience of those who are holding this photograph to the light. 

But we have an opportunity to learn here. Each wry and pointed tweet is like a signpost that can communicate to us what systemic racism really looks like, if we are willing to truly see.

This statement summed it up perfectly for me:

Seemingly “natural” homogeneous gatherings like this are a result of the  systematic exclusion of marginalized people and further perpetuate the marginalization.Here are my favorite tweets pointing out this absurdity. - - Arghavan Salles, M.D., PhD

pov: you go to a job interview for a company that has “we value diversity” on their homepage

The posting: "Scholars from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply."

The department:

“We especially encourage you to apply, especially if you are from a marginalized or underrepresented background”

NIH funded health disparities scholars!

The prize committee that judges whether or not your novel about Black life in the US is sufficiently authentic

‘Our board has a strong commitment to our organisation’s diversity…’

The board:

The program director: At our program we strive for diversity and inclusion, that’s part of the reason why we offer J1 visas for foreign medical graduates as well

The residents:

Mississippi: *is the Blackest state in the nation, with 4-in-10 residents being Black*

Mississippi's statewide leaders since 1890:

Dr. Salles concludes the thread with these words: 

For the people saying they’re just hanging out with their friends: in Hollywood, as in most other circles, people who look like them hold the majority of the wealth, power, and status. The same people left out of their social networks are left out professionally too. That matters.

All your friends may be white because long years of red lining and discrimination may have kept your neighborhood white. And your schools white. Many of your workplace experiences and relationships may be with white people because you instinctively gravitate towards groups that look like your neighborhoods and schools.

The people who do the hiring are the same. The leaders of charities and nonprofits. The political leadership. The hospitals and medical institutions. The legal system. The people who hire the journalists who write your news.

The same people left out of their social networks are left out professionally, too. That matters.