Don`t you find those tactics crass and patronizing? Sure, I have seem them used, but I cringed every time.
Yes, actually, I do find those tactics crass and patronizing, and it's too bad that that might be the only way to get a good shot of a broad cross-section of the population in NDP publicity photos.
I think arguments can be made on both sides of such an issue. For instance, think of the business section (or any section, really) of your local paper. How many racialized people do you see in that section? Newspapers for years have been making the excuse that the reason there are so few stories featuring racialized people, or columnists or reporters who are racialized, is because there are so few racialized people who become big players in the financial industry.
However, this perception that racialized people aren't in finance (along with the unspoken and perhaps subconscious belief that they don't want to be in it and don't really belong in it) becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when the only thing the general public sees in their media are white people in finance and business.
Should the NDP strive to ensure that their publicity shots include more racialized people in them when their candid shots show that there really isn't much attention paid to ensuring that racialized people are included on the stage at a leadership rally? Would it be just patronizing tokenism to portray the inclusion that isn't actually happening on the ground all that often? Or would it be an attempt to encourage and welcome racialized people to the party, and to normalize the idea and the image of the party as one where everyone is represented?
I don't know the answer to that question. I'm sure there are arguments on both sides. But I don't think it's just the luck of the draw that there were no racialized candidates in the leadership race, and that the one Aboriginal candidate ended up dropping out early because it became clear by lack of funding and support that he would be unable to win. And whether that picture on the splash page simply reflects this lack of inclusion in the party, or contributes to it by normalizing such a lack of inclusion by proudly displaying it in publicity shots, the outcome is still that racialized people still aren't running for top leadership positions in the party. And they probably don't end up as candidates in winnable or relatively safe ridings very often either.
Would a deliberate photo shoot with a good mix of people in it change things? I don't know. Tokenism doesn't work if that's all you do. But pictures of a sea of white, mostly male supporters on the splash page probably doesn't help either.
