Dialogue ignited by downtown billboard should not be censored by university

In calling for the discontinuation of a “provocative” billboard downtown, some university faculty are working to silence dialogue about white privilege and racism.

The billboard was created by a class in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The billboard features a picture of a black Barbie doll on the left side with text that reads, “Sorry kids, it’s still white privilege” on the right side. The fundamental meaning of the billboard is that white privilege, as a systematic relation, is literally everywhere, and not in any way mitigated by the “diversification” of the Barbie line.

According to a public statement by Transmedia department chair Heath Hanlin, “The goal of this [billboard] project is to challenge stereotypes and investigate racial barriers, hopefully opening a constructive dialogue about these critical issues.” Ironically, however, the statement goes on to read, “the message and meaning of the billboard itself could be misinterpreted or misconstrued,” and so the department has asked that the vendor discontinue the billboard.

In other words, the goal of the billboard was to create dialogue, but as soon as the dialogue began — in the form of complaints — the department wielded its power to silence it.

This desire to silence dialogue about white privilege is problematic for several reasons. Most significant is that white privilege is such a fundamental component of U.S. society because it is so thoroughly and systematically denied. Discontinuing the billboard contributes directly to that denial.

There are critiques of the billboard; I have some of them myself. But these critiques need not be silenced. Instead, they should be publicized and made the subject of democratic deliberation.

Not to mention the fact that any artistic statement is, by definition, subject to misinterpretation — all communication is. It makes one wonder, then, if Hanlin defines art in part by its ability to be interpreted one way and one way only. Further, misinterpretation can be productive, and some of art’s productivity can actually be located here.

White privilege is a term that is completely absent in popular discourse. This billboard served to inject the term — and debate — into public discourse in Syracuse — a city that is structured by racism and other forms of oppression, like the university.

Luckily, the irony of censorship is that it tends to have an effect antagonistic to its intention.  Therefore, while the university should reverse its decision, we would like to at least sustain the much-needed dialogue that the billboard started.

Derek Ford

Youth and Student ANSWER (Act Now to Stop war and End Racism) Coordinator