Oops, you all look alike

Have you ever gotten your name misprinted in the newspaper? How about having your name as an error simply because of your race? Unfortunately, this seems to be a common mistake that has been noticed by several readers of Rolling Stone, New York Times, Washington Times, and Washington Post. A web writer, David Mills, posted a column about this racist mistake that has been seen way too many times in the media.

The people we're talking about here aren't just semi-famous people. They are big stars in the music industry, movie industry, and the list goes on. Writers for any of the above media outlets ought to have hired editors/proofreaders who are capable of catching simple mistakes like these. But for some reason they are slipping up.

“A review of the concert film ‘Fade to Black’ in Weekend yesterday misidentified a star appearing in the film with the rapper Jay-Z. She was Foxy Brown, not Lil' Kim. Because of an editing error, a picture caption misidentified the singer dressed all in white. He was R. Kelly, not Jay-Z.”

It links to that old racist trope of “they all look alike.” And I simply can’t imagine the media so frequently misidentifying white people of similar status (nor can I find evidence of it).

This may seem like a pure coincidence, but it has been caught by so many people that it has to brought into the spotlight. Looking at this issue from an ethical viewpoint, frequently misprinting black peoples' names is violating the ethical system of rights. Blacks, too, are insured of ethical rights without being discriminated against.