Diversity?

Johnson County, Kansas is part of the Kansas City Metro Area.  Because of that, we're innundated with some of their ads during election season, even through we live in Clay County, Missouri (also part of the KC Metro).  I was particularly struck with the ads on their soccer fields question.

Now, I've just seen one or two TV ads, but I was amazed that ALL of the children were fair skinned.  Granted, it's possible I could have missed seeing an ethnically diverse child or two, but I really didn't see anything other than Caucasian children in the ad.  And I was stunned.  Just stunned.

The website encouraging folks to vote Yes on the soccer fields does show a little more diversity, thankfully.  But not much.  I'll let you draw your own conclusions. 

Comments

Lauragayle -

Johnson County doesn't have much diversity! According to census data the population is over 95% caucasian . . .

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/olg/programs/dir_resource/reports/sit_trendsDATA/Johnson.pdf#xml=http://search.jocogov.org/dtSearch/dtisapi6.dll?cmd=getpdfhits&DocId=7239&Index=F%3a%5cdtsearch%20indexes%5coznet%2eksu%2eedu&HitCount=808&hits=3+4+1e+1f+20c+20d+22c+26c+26d+275+27c+27d+2b7+2db+2f6+34e+361+362+38a+3a8+3a9+3c0+3ed+405+43b+459+4bc+4e8+527+528+585+599+6ed+714+72a+740+759+776+77e+783+78c+799+7a5+7b6+7cf+7d4+7e3+7e4+7eb+801+802+810+815+820+82d+835+83e+849+853+859+86e+887+895+8a7+8c0+962+963+974+989+99a+9d8+9f6+9f7+a1c+abe+ad0+af5+af6+b0b+b18+b60+b61+c6d+d61+e18+e2c+e3f+e4a+e4b+e69+e6f+e70+e7e+e81+e82+ea7+eb2+eb3+ebb+ecd+ece+edb+ef0+ef1+ef8+f03+f39+f3a+f50+f58+fb8+fb9+fbc+ff9+ffa+1002+1017+1060+10a1+10dc+10dd+10e0+1136+1137+1198+11a3+11b0+11b5+11b6+11c5+11f2+11f7+11f8+1216+1217+121f+123f+1244+1245+126e+12a5+12b0+12b1+12d5+12d7+12d8+1396+1397+13a4+13ce+13f1+1410+143f+1444+1445+1476+1479+147a+1493+149c+1571+1576+1577+157e+15e5+15ed+15ee+15fd+1626+162a+1636+1637+1640+1651+1652+1655+&SearchForm=F%3a%5cVirtual%20Servers%5csearch%2ejocogov%2eorg%5cdtSearch%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf

[mosker]

I've seen those ads. My first thought was not on the lack of diversity, although that is an excellent point, but on the fact that Johnson County must be doing far better than I imagined that their biggest concern is the lack of enough soccer fields.

How about that JoCo conversation: "My Johnny had to wait an hour for a practice field. Can you imagine?! A whole hour! We MUST do something about this!"

I don't see that happening anytime soon in Kansas City or even Jackson County.

[Heide]

Ay least they showed a girl in the shot.

[lauragayle]

In response to the first comment, yes, I know that Johnson County has a largely Caucasian population. But I think these ads send out an interesting message. I'm somewhat sensitized, given where I work (urban university) and that I'm currently chair of a librarian search committee. Our organization does a lot of recruiting to minority populations and when I see these ads, I wonder what message our minority candidates receive when they see them in their hotel rooms during an interview -- what do these ads say about our metro area, the kind of people living in our various communities and what the "expected" complexion of the person next door is from one community to another.

[mosker]

Perhaps you interpreted the message correctly? It could be that the models selected for the commercial and the website accurately reflect what the proponents of the measure want you to think.

[Rustee]

or perhaps they took pictures from current or past teams, and that was the make up. With 5% non-caucasions, how many are children in the right age range who want to play soccer?

[mosker]

I spoke to someone today who lives in Johnson County. She said that despite the difficulty she was having arranging today's family schedule, she was determined to vote because she wanted to vote against the soccer measure. Yes, she said, maybe it is only $1.50 per person, as the proponents argue, but when she stopped to consider that it was $75 million for soccer, she decided she could not support it. And, as a resident of northern Johnson County, she didn't think it likely that her kids were ever going to be allowed on those fields.

I don't live in Johnson County, so it was interesting to hear the perspective of someone who would be voting on the issue.