How can I as a graphic designer give
those affected by racial Stereotype a voice?
An independent study that observes the destruction racial Stereotypes causes to society and how those affected by it can be given a voice. Racial stereotypes exist in society, in fact it exist in every race, culture or ethic group therefore no one is suggested to be exempt. Prior to this my initial question was to look into the affect racial profiling has on society. However after discussing this with my tutors and peers, it was then revealed to me that this question was quite broad therefore suggestions where then made to either change the topic or outline something about racial discrimination that was more specific. So I began on this journey to find out more about racial abuse, more importantly the ways in which it affects people. Its estimated by the BBC that from 2007 to 2011 there has been nearly 88,000 racial incidents in British schools, this included name calling and physical abuse. When looking into racial incidents reported in England and Wales it came in at 54,872 for 2009/10 and 51,187 for 2010/11. Although from 2006 to 2011 further research suggest there has been a reduction of -17% in reported racial abuse, enough isn’t seen to be done by leaders in order to get the numbers even lower. Take a look at a common racial quote; calling a Muslim a terrorist is damaging to a person moreover this hurtful stigma was generated form an exaggerated assumption. On this sole basis I began to gather research on how I as a graphic designer could give those affected by racial stereotypes a voice or a means for people to understand what it means to be racially stereotyped.
I set out to do this by including t-shirts to go with the publication, however theses t-shirt will be customised allowing the owner to include a pattern he or she thinks best describes them. The campaign t-shirt will all have same layout to keep uniformity, but will all look different suggesting that we all support the same movement but we all have different stories.
