Ad of Olympian Maame Biney pushes pernicious idea of black victimhoodBy Naomi Schaefer Riley
February 12, 2022
How hard is it to be a black person in America? Apparently it’s like having a leg amputated or getting cancer. That’s at least the implication of a new commercial from Visa playing during the Olympics.
The commercial, which features three Olympic athletes, begins with a voiceover: “Everyone celebrates the finish line. But what about the starting line?” We see a skier preparing for a race explaining how he had to go through 12 rounds of chemotherapy treatments. And a man in a locker room who explains, “I didn’t become a snowboarder until after I became an amputee.”
Between those two shots, is a clip of short track speed skater Maame Biney at the starting line. She looks at the camera and says: “I’m African American and I’m surrounded by people who aren’t.” What does it say about our culture that we think simply being black around people who are not is such a hardship that it deserves to be compared to having cancer or losing a limb?
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2022/02/12/ad-of-olympian-maame-biney-pushes-idea-of-black-victimhood/
