The unfortunate Post Office campaign has crossed borders, becoming one of the most read issues of the Washington Post. In an act of paternalism, the entity put into circulation this week a series of colored stamps where black was the cheapest.
Spain’s postal service has repeatedly dabbled in social causes in recent years, and had so far largely managed to avoid controversy despite the often liberal slant of campaigns in a majority-Catholic country. the american newspaper.
For its part, the state portal service company wanted to value the intention of its initiative: “At Correos we believe that the value of a person should not have color, that is why we launched ‘EqualityStamps’: a collection of stamps in which The darker the color of the seal, the lower the value it will have, thus reflecting an unjust and painful reality that should not exist,” they explained.
The campaign had the collaboration of rapper and activist El Chojin and SOS Racismo. Such has been the repercussion of the campaign that even SOS Racismo Madrid has criticized the initiative: “the unfortunate Post Office campaign highlights the need to create greater anti-racist awareness in Spain. Racism is not only due to the color of the skin, it is a systemic and historical issue built to privilege sectors of society,” they pointed out on their Twitter account.
“The more stamps you buy, the more you realize racism”
The entity chaired by Juan Manuel Serrano, who was Pedro Sánchez’s chief of staff while he was in the opposition, wanted to launch this campaign within the European Month of Diversity and coinciding with the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd, an African-American murdered by four cops in Minnesota.
The intention of this initiative, as Correos explained in a statement, is that, when making a shipment, it will be necessary to use more black stamps than white ones. “In this way, each letter and each shipment will become a reflection of the inequality created by racism,” they added from the company.
This campaign has not gone unnoticed on the networks. Users have reiterated how unfortunate it is and the racism that it implies. Moha Gerehou, journalist and author of the book ‘What is a black man like you doing in a place like this’, explained that “what is transmitted and what remains is a huge contradiction: a campaign that, in order to show the equal value of our lives, puts in circulation stamps with an unequal value according to color. The message is an absolute disaster. It is racist”.
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