Racialized equality imagery intensified after California’s Proposition 209

Evidence

But it’s not all bad, it seems. Another aspect of racialized images are those that reflect the rhetoric of equality and diversity: the prevalence of multiracial sports teams, dance groups, and the like on television; the presentation of news reports and weather by, especially, women of color. This is common in music videos of the most diverse kinds, in magazines, and in advertising for clothes, music, cars, and all manner of products, as well as among the catalogs and promotional literature of major universities. This has become particularly common in California after the passage of Proposition 209. These are designed to promote the philosophy of diversity and multiculturalism. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1848

Categorization

• QUESTION: The causal claim that Proposition 209 specifically drove diversity imagery is asserted without much support — worth chasing the source (Rodriguez, 1997).
• SEED: Article angle: performative diversity imagery as a counter-point to anti-affirmative-action law — the more equal opportunity is legally denied, the more it is performatively displayed.