Gotta give it to Detroit for keeping it real. The white hipsters that made this thing might’ve gotten their message through to working-class black folk easier by making the person holding the sign a working-class black person. But they kept it real. Will it do any good?
Why does the skin color or background of the person holding the sign even matter? Immigrants can be of any race. The point is that immigrant rights are a subset of civil rights, which are rights reserved for everyone. Thus, people who would say “I don’t care about immigrant rights because I’m not an immigrant” should wake up and realize we’re all the same regardless of where we come from.
Excellent points all. But how to convey them in wheatpaste form?
I think graffiti can help spread the message, but to solve these problems we need to educate the people.
Many Americans believe they have a right to a first-world standard of living. That’s the “take our jobs” argument you hear in the media. They are wrong. The comfortable lives we lead here in America are built on the backs of those in the third-world. History calls this process “colonization.” Today, our companies control the third-world. They exploit the people there as a cheap source of labor, and control their natural resources in the name of profits. Third-world governments don’t protect their people from this, using the situation to make money instead. As a result people risk their lives to come here and work jobs that many Americans wouldn’t even want. So you see, the first-world created this problem.
The common anti-immigrant attitudes are nothing but classism and racism. Most Americans who hold these beliefs don’t even realize this because they don’t understand the issue. I’ve changed many peoples minds on the issue just by putting things in perspective. Spray paint can send a message, but only education can change minds.
Pretty sure this is street art from Cesar an activist street artist from DC. See his stuff here: http://www.rvltndesign.com
[...] last detour to the Midwest to close out a week of many detours to the Midwest, this one courtesy of Chicago photographer Nick Gerber. This sport looks [...]
hey. heads up. Detroit isn’t just black and white. We have a large hispanic community in southwest detroit. We have the largest arabic population outside of the middle east near the state fair grounds, west side of detroit and east dearborn. I am glad it’s a woman holding sign.
I guess I am confused why the working class would only make sense if they were black. In today’s economy the working class is a melting pot of colors. Our communities are diverse.
Metro Detroit houses many immigrants from across the globe. We have a very large Polish and Eastern European population as well. I think color has nothing to do with getting the point across.