In 2017, the Oprah Winfrey magazine, O, published a photo essay by photographer Chris Buck entitled, “Let’s Talk About Race.”  According to the photographer, the photo essay’s focus is to cause people to enter into a discussion on racism.  

Okay then, Mr. Buck, let’s talk.

The first photo in his essay shows a row of Asian women having pedicures by a group of white women who sit subservient at their feet.

Let me tell you that I don’t think manicures and pedicures are a form of white privilege.  Asian women are not slaves forced to hold these positions in nail salons. They do it because they’re good at it!

The second of Buck’s reverse situation photos is of a rich Latina ignoring her white maid. Again, if a Hispanic woman chooses to earn a living in the Service Industry—that’s her choice! A maid makes an honest living with her talents.

Both pictures suggest that minorities are incapable of holding positions of prestige and Caucasian women enjoy lording their “white privilege’ over others.

Now, the third photo is different. It shows a girl standing in a toy store looking at a row of black dolls. The hidden white person is a corporate executive who creates toys that cater to only one group of children.

Yet, to me, this is not an act of white privilege; it is a choice made by Corporations who favor sales over people.  Executives cater to the consumer whom they believe will buy more of their products. 

Therefore, the suggestive narrative for these photos is that Caucasians, as a whole, look down on minorities.  But is that true? In June 2020, The Cision PR Newswire published an article entitled, “New Report Reveals Demographics of Black Lives Matter Protesters Shows Vast Majority Are White, Marched Within Their Own Cities.” Based on the graphics obtained from Mobilewalla, a consumer data group, 76 percent of the protestors in Atlanta, who took to the streets after George Floyd’s death, were white, eighteen percent were black, and six percent were Hispanics. In Los Angeles, the number increased to 78 percent were white, fifteen percent were Hispanics, and only three percent of the protestors were black. Likewise, in Minneapolis, the data shows an increase of 85 percent of white protestors, and eleven percent were black.

As mathematicians always say, “numbers never lie.” If 75 (+) percent of Americans are protesting to support their black neighbors, then the theory behind the white privilege photo essay is misleading.

Buck says that the best photos conjure up questions, but not all questions have answers.  Yet, if asked, Pastor Voddie Bauchman would say that the answer to racism is the gospel. A recent article posted on the Christianity Daily website entitled “Dr. Voddie Baucham Hits Critical Race Theory, Says ‘The Gospel Is The Answer And The Solution’ To Racism.” Dr. Baucham says, “There’s a whole lot of things that the Bible is not, but, when it comes to the relationships between people when it comes to sins based on partiality, the Bible is absolutely a textbook on that,” he added. [Then] Dr. Baucham was asked if CRT could lead people to a wrong view of Christianity since the philosophy mainly zeroes in “white privilege,” Baucham stated that he fears CRT’s “divisive rhetoric” would not help but compound the racism problem.”

Racism, white privilege, and disparaging scenarios are all based on sin. The Bible tells us that what is in the heart comes out of the mouth. And what is in the heart will determine our spiritual future. (See Luke 6:45) Thus, instead of photo essays prompting a discussion on racism, maybe we should focus on the real issue of a lost world needing a Savior.