Of course, we can’t hook up a general population to computers and virtual reality environments that change our racial appearance or set up control environments for our children to have such experiences. But we can choose the images we see on a regular basis.

And that is why critiques such as #OscarsSoWhite matter so much. It’s not only that it would be more equitable to have more actors of color on the big screen, it’s that having more actors of color might actually change the racist presumptions of our culture at large.

Readers might recall Jessica Curry, the mother of the red-coated Parker Curry whose image is now firmly in the public eye as she stares at a portrait of Michelle Obama. As she wrote for The New York Times, “Representation matters. … Only by being exposed to brilliant, intelligent, kind black women can my girls and other girls of color really understand that their goals and dreams are within reach.”

The creation of a less racist social system does not have a simple guidebook, and it would be naive to suggest that if we all started looking at better images, the world would be a better place. But then again, in its own small way, it might.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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