Can you spot a non-white person at the Rally to Restore Sanity?
Since I did the same thing for Glenn Beck's rally [see "Can you spot a non-white person at the Glenn Beck Rally?", submitteratored on August 29], fairness demands that I ask the same thing about this one, which while somewhat more diverse still seemed to me more than 95% white.
I had a fantastic time at it, and am glad I was there even if I increased its whiteness, but it still struck me as less than representative of the diversity of America.
(Warning: *huge* panorama) .....





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I increased my zoom to 400%, panned right and found one immediately, he's kinda cute!
At a quick glance, I found 2 black people and an Asian chick (the one who is turned around and pointing at the camera).
Does John Boehner count?
Yeah, I see some dark-skinned hands holding a video camera on the right and three black people on the left, one appears to be part of an interracial couple.
I am most pleased that Aang from The Last Airbender chose to attend this rally instead of supporting Glen Beck. I want all of the monks with supernatural powers on my side.
I counted four that I was reasonably sure were of a darker than "white" skin shade.
And while its an interesting and - fairly - accurate point, I would hesitate to go straight to the conclusion that the same group of people who would go to this rally are just as non diverse as the Glenn Beck crowd.
One conclusion could be that the more affluent could afford to take a trip to D.C. for a rally and that socio economic class is still majority white.
Another point is that the photo itself while at first glance captures clearly thousands of people, but when you zoom way in there are probably less than 100 individual people you could distinguish from the crowd in the relative foreground and middle ground. Once you get to the relatively far ground the faces become indistinguishable blurs of flesh toned pixels.
Which brings up a point I would like to make, that at a point you couldn't say someone is white or not white, that when you compare a white man to a brown man to a black man, they are remarkably more similar than different. And at the heart of it, isn't it true that we really are more alike than different.
If you expand it and go just about a 1/3 from the left there is a black man in a blue shirt. If you count what appears to be his partner mostly blocked by someone else, then look behind him in the distance - I can easily count a dozen people of color in various groups.
People come in different colors? I never noticed.
I found a black guy holding a video camera -- but he appears to be PHOTOSHOPPED in. He's got a white guy's head growing out of his arm! But I can't figure out why this photo would be doctored?
I understand your point. I was at the rally as well, and while I'll admit that there was definitely an overwhelming white majority, I don't really think trying to pick minorities out of the crowd really does justice to the diversity of the rally or any rally.
I am decidedly white skinned (thanks to my part-Swedish ancestry) but I also identify as Hispanic due to other parts of my ancestry; looking in the crowd no one would visually identify me as Hispanic (though you probably wouldn't be able to see me anyway, I also identify as a short person at 5'2"). Skin color is really the worst measure of someone's identity, and so while I see what you're trying to get at, I don't like the simplification.
I was most surprised by the diversity of ages I saw. I really was expecting mostly college age people, and there were really people of all ages well represented, I even saw entire families with little kids.
Either way I has a fantastic time.
I saw 5 dark-skinned people, and Asian, and a Reptilian. It's sorta hard to tell though, since 80% of the people are either the backs of heads, or too fuzzy to tell.
I suspect a lot of those white people were Hispanic too.
Does it count if you see the same person 4 times? Mavis Staples is on the Jumbotron.
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