http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C600111140%2C00.html
" The footage is shot in black and white. As the commercial begins, the camera
pans down a crowded bus. A woman gets on board and notices one empty seat, next
to an African-American man. She glances at him and moves away, searching
elsewhere for a place to sit.
This public-service message is one of two new messages produced by the
YWCA. Both will be shown on MTV and other stations. The point of this
particular spot is that racism may have become more subtle, but it has not been
eliminated.
The YWCA's second spot is about sexism. It is also shot in black and
white, and it shows little girls just being themselves — while rap music
plays in the background. First, two little girls, clad in school uniforms,
giggle together. Then there is a shot of a girl jumping on a bed. Next comes a
little girl practicing ballet.
The girls are the picture of innocence. Yet the viewer is jarred by the
juxtaposition of such sweet lives as they appear when set against the demeaning
lyrics of the music. On this commercial, the words "b----" and "ho" seem more
than inappropriate, they seem sick.
In raising awareness about how sexism and racism look today, the national
YWCA is merely doing what it has been doing for 146 years, said Anne
Burkholder, CEO of the YWCA of Salt Lake City. They've always been in the
business of empowering women, women of every color.
Along with the commercials, the YWCA is getting a new logo. The words
"eliminating racism" and "empowering women" are shown in bright orange above
the letters YWCA. "This is an effort to try to rebrand ourselves and also focus
public attention on who we are as an organization," said Burkholder.
The ads are designed to reach the young women who might be watching MTV,
women who are 18 to 34 and who may have no idea of the history of the YWCA.
"They are our future leaders. They will have tremendous influence on the kind
of world we'll see," said Burkholder,
Older women, especially those who live in states with large
African-American populations, might be well aware of the role played by YWCA
during the nation's civil-rights movement. In Utah, Burkholder said, women of
all ages might be familiar with the YWCA's teen mother programs or with the
domestic violence work — with the shelters, especially. But the average Utahn
may be less familiar with the YWCA's civil-rights history and diversity
programs.
The Salt Lake City YWCA has always been open to women of any color, but
in 1997, when the staff realized they were serving more and more new
immigrants, they began offering special help. They are determined that language
and culture will not be a roadblock, just as race has never been a roadblock.
"We are just trying to do more of what we have already been doing for a very
long time," Burkholder said."
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