WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — More than one hundred African-American D.C. natives said they were left out of a marketing campaign for the Washingtonian Magazine.
The publication’s social media posts were supposed to be a snapshot of people living in the nation’s capital, but it had no pictures of black people.
Community organizers decided to offer a counter-narrative with photos of their own.
“We are DC natives,” Karen Sibert said. “Born and bred.”
From the sounds of go-go music to their unique style, people living in D.C. believe it means something to call themselves natives.
A post shared by mrtonylewisjr (@mrtonylewisjr) on
“We’ve always been very confident, independent, and strong in who we are,” Danielle Cotton told WUSA9.
A crowd of majority African-American D.C. natives held a photo shoot at Union Market in direct response to the social media campaign from the Washingtonian Magazine.
Earlier this month, the publication posted a series of pictures to market a t-shirt called “I’m not a tourist. I live here.”
“But they were concentrating more or white people,” Nee Nee Taylor, with Black Lives Matter DC, said.
Tony Lewis, who helped organize the event, spotted “one Asian guy” and “one Latino guy” in the posts.
“When I walk out of my house every day, that’s not what I see— that’s not all I see. That magazine made it look like that is all you see when you come to DC,” Angel Gregorio, a co-organizer of the photoshoot, explained.
“For you to come in and act like we don’t belong, or don’t live here, or don’t exist is an abomination,” Jackie Snowden declared.
The Washingtonian deleted the posts and issued an apology.
To fellow Washingtonians:
As a native Washingtonian, I am very sorry that our latest “I Am Not A Tourist” marketing campaign did not represent the wonderfully diverse city in which we live.
This was the very beginning of a campaign in which all intentions are to include the many communities that make up our city. We solicited pictures from a diverse group of people and put the pictures up in the order they came in. People who saw the initial gallery of pictures had no way of knowing that it was not, in fact, the entirety of the marketing campaign. We took down the initial post because it created an impression that was inconsistent with our values and standards. We’re confident that when the campaign is complete it will reflect the diversity of the readership that we serve.
We always appreciate feedback and are glad that people take the time to point out when we let them down, as we did this time. I apologize on behalf of our entire team.
Catherine Merrill Williams
CEO & President
Washingtonian
“I was upset. I was hurt,” Lewis told WUSA9. “It was like ‘nah’ we’re not standing for that anymore.”
Despite the changing demographics, black Washingtonians make up more than 47% of the population.
“We were not included so we wanted to show who else lives here,” Lewis said.
The group decided to capture some of Washington’s diverse culture through their own lenses to offer a counter-image to The Washingtonian Magazine’s campaign.
Something they decided to capture through their own lenses –
Organizers plan to post the pictures taken on Sunday on social media.
The group planned a second event called “We Are The Natives Social” at the Anacostia Secret Garden between 6pm-8pm on Friday.
