Apologise for the Racist Racial Profiling
The Issue
Dear Mr Paul Darce,
On the 26th of June 2015 Emily Payne published an article on behalf of Kidzania. At Kidzania, London, it's for children aged between four and fourteen and they can try out a range of professions - playing surgeon, fireman or fashion stylist for the day - in an ultra-realistic, indoor replica of a city. Included in Emily Payne's publication were pictures of children dressed up as various professionals. To my horror, I came across a picture of a lone black boy sitting in a prison cell. My first question to myself was when did going to prison become a profession? I was so disheartened as it became apparent to me that, this was nothing but subliminal racist racial profiling. There could be no other reason for this picture to be included in Emily Payne's publication.
I sent an email to Kidzania and asked them to explain why they have a black boy sitting in a prison cell. I was told that the prison cell is part of a police station and that no staff of Kidzania would put a child in the prison cell. So why on earth would the photographer feel that this photograph should be included in the publication. The only obvious reason is that both Emily Payne and the photographer seized the perfect opportunity to send out a subliminal racist message to its readers. The message was to imply that, most black people will end up in jail. I have complained about this publication on various social media and the racist comments support this racial profiling implied in the above publication.
Kidzania have convinced me that, they had no control of the photograph used in the publication. The fact that the parents had all signed a parental consent form for the photographs used does not take any liability away from the Mail Online. It's my understanding that the parents agreed that the photographs of their children could be used in the publication, but they were not necessarily aware which ones would be used. There is no valid reason why the photograph of the black boy in the prison was used as I have stated before, it does not represent a profession and no sane parent would want to encourage their children to go to prison. The offensive picture has been taken out of the publication by the request of Kidzania.
I am demanding that an apology should be published in the Mail Online and that the Mail Online should reiterate that they do not encourage any form of racism. Perhaps, one might argue that the racial profiling was a poor judgement error on the part of Emily Payne and the photographer. However, this does not make this complaint any less offensive to the millions of Daily Mail readers.
If you are against racism and you believe racial profiling is an unfair way of defining people, you should support this petition. The media is a powerful tool and it should not be allowed to be used to spread racist subliminal messages. Please sign this petition to convince the Mail Online to do the right thing. The picture used in this petition has been blurred out to protect the identity of the child. .
The Issue
Dear Mr Paul Darce,
On the 26th of June 2015 Emily Payne published an article on behalf of Kidzania. At Kidzania, London, it's for children aged between four and fourteen and they can try out a range of professions - playing surgeon, fireman or fashion stylist for the day - in an ultra-realistic, indoor replica of a city. Included in Emily Payne's publication were pictures of children dressed up as various professionals. To my horror, I came across a picture of a lone black boy sitting in a prison cell. My first question to myself was when did going to prison become a profession? I was so disheartened as it became apparent to me that, this was nothing but subliminal racist racial profiling. There could be no other reason for this picture to be included in Emily Payne's publication.
I sent an email to Kidzania and asked them to explain why they have a black boy sitting in a prison cell. I was told that the prison cell is part of a police station and that no staff of Kidzania would put a child in the prison cell. So why on earth would the photographer feel that this photograph should be included in the publication. The only obvious reason is that both Emily Payne and the photographer seized the perfect opportunity to send out a subliminal racist message to its readers. The message was to imply that, most black people will end up in jail. I have complained about this publication on various social media and the racist comments support this racial profiling implied in the above publication.
Kidzania have convinced me that, they had no control of the photograph used in the publication. The fact that the parents had all signed a parental consent form for the photographs used does not take any liability away from the Mail Online. It's my understanding that the parents agreed that the photographs of their children could be used in the publication, but they were not necessarily aware which ones would be used. There is no valid reason why the photograph of the black boy in the prison was used as I have stated before, it does not represent a profession and no sane parent would want to encourage their children to go to prison. The offensive picture has been taken out of the publication by the request of Kidzania.
I am demanding that an apology should be published in the Mail Online and that the Mail Online should reiterate that they do not encourage any form of racism. Perhaps, one might argue that the racial profiling was a poor judgement error on the part of Emily Payne and the photographer. However, this does not make this complaint any less offensive to the millions of Daily Mail readers.
If you are against racism and you believe racial profiling is an unfair way of defining people, you should support this petition. The media is a powerful tool and it should not be allowed to be used to spread racist subliminal messages. Please sign this petition to convince the Mail Online to do the right thing. The picture used in this petition has been blurred out to protect the identity of the child. .
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Petition created on 5 July 2015