Dallas, TX–
“In 2008 in Dallas, Texas, we’re running ads on our buses saying that a black man is going to kill his wife…what does this say to young black men? I’m shocked.”–David Russell, on CBS
CBS in Dallas did a TV report on our protest campaign against Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Anti-Father Domestic Violence Ads. Several protesters attended a public meeting of the DART Board yesterday evening.
According to the report:
1) The DART Board distanced themselves from the ad, saying that it was DART’s staff, not the Board, who decided to place the ads.
2) CBS’ Stephanie Lucero said that The Family Place, the domestic violence agency which placed the ads, “is not backing down.” That’s irrelevant, of course–our campaign does not seek to change the minds of misguided radicals such as Paige Flink (Family Place Executive Director), but instead to show DART that the ads are offensive and inappropriate.
3) Protester Dave Piering said, “I hate to see that many children might fear their fathers simply because they read these types of ads.”
4) Protester David Russell said, “In 2008 in Dallas, Texas, we’re running ads on our buses saying that a black man is going to kill his wife…what does this say to young black men? I’m shocked.”
The video can be seen here.
Flink, apparently worried over the strength of the protests, hustled to the DART meeting to defend her bigoted ads. After the meeting, Russell told me:
Flink spoke in support of her own ads along with two men who she brought with her. However, they avoided answering the challenge that the ads might depict males negatively or confuse children who see them but lack the maturity to understand the underlying messages.
We’ve made progress but more pressure is needed. Send your letter (even if you’ve already done it) by clicking here. More importantly, call DART’s executives by clicking here.
DART is often criticized in Dallas (one local resident told me “they’re everyone’s favorite punching bag”), so it will take more pressure to get them to properly address this issue.
We’ve now received over 50 endorsements of our campaign from Domestic Violence Authorities, Educators, and Mental Health, Medical, & Family Law Professionals–to view the list of endorsers, click here.
The text version of the TV report can be seen here.
Thanks to the Dallas activists who responded to our last-minute request to attend the meeting.