Writer David Kaufman Argues Crosswalk Signs Are ‘Unintentionally Racist,’ Part Of A ‘Broken System’ Because They Are ‘Lunar White’ [Opinion]

Well, even at my ripe old age of 40, I am still learning new things every single day.

Today, I found out that the walking person signal at a crosswalk is RACIST. Well, at least that’s how the crosswalk person strikes writer David Kaufman anyway.

To which I reply, sure, why not? EVERYTHING IS RACIST.

This is so outrageous that you just have to laugh. The sad thing is that the focus on made-up issues like this detract from genuine acts of racism, which are despicable. It desensitizes people to all charges of racism.

From Level:

But what about the far more subtle streams of everyday racism that course through our homes, our workplaces, and the outside world? These instances may be far subtler than a mascot or an offensive term, but are no less pervasive — and no less deserving of cultural reckoning.

For me, this reckoning begins with traffic signals.

A few months back, before Covid-19 kept us in our homes and George Floyd made us take to the streets, I was walking with a friend, her daughter, and my twin sons. My friend is White and I’m not — something I’d never given a second thought until we reached a crosswalk. “Remember, honey,” she said to her daughter as we waited for the light to turn green, “we need to wait for the little White man to appear before we can cross the street.”

I realize that White people like to exert control over nearly everything everyone does, I thought, but since when did this literally include trying to cross the street?

Part of my surprise here was a function of age. My boys are a few months younger than her daughter and we hadn’t yet tackled the “crossing the street” component of basic toddler training. But as a Black dad, I was struck by the language at play. How is it possible that well into the 21st century, parents all over Manhattan — well-meaning, #BLM-marching parents — are teaching their children to ask “little White men” for permission to cross the street? And why doesn’t this seem to bother them?

Wow! Have you ever looked at the crosswalk sign and thought “little White man?” It has never crossed my mind. I see the person and I think, “GO.”

I truly feel sorry for this man. What an awful existence to look around and see oppression everywhere, even when it is not there. It must be so exhausting to feel like enemies are all around you.

Kaufman’s thoughts brought him to investigate the origins of the “little White man.” He ended up talking to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In the end, he admits the chosen color is not a racist conspiracy but simply the most visible color.

In other words, this is about SAFETY.

It’s “lunar white,” according to the FHWA: a shade of white with yellow and grey accents that mimics the color of the moon. Lunar white wasn’t chosen because it sounds cool. According to FHWA research, the agency spokesperson says, moonlight offers “the peak sensitivity for the rod cells in the human retina.” In other words, our vision is predisposed to favoring the clarity and intensity of moonlight.

In the end, it’s not that the Walking Man is so super-duper white. Rather, his true competitive edge is that he’s super-duper bright. “The use of bright colors… offers the greatest contrast against a dark background,” the FHWA spokesperson says. “They do not lend themselves to confusion with other colors [and] are thought to provide the greatest level of comprehension and safety.”

And there you have it: The government-approved origins of the “little White men” telling us to cross the street at corners across New York. Thanks to help from the FHWA, I am now convinced that technology and necessity, rather than some anti-Black conspiracy, propelled the shift from verbal crosswalk cues to a lunar-white Walking Person. But my heart still sinks at the specter of teaching my sons to ask a White man for permission to do — well, anything.

The whole tone of Kaufman’s article strikes me as, well, racist. He seems to have a deep resentment toward white people. Heck, he accuses all white people of wanting to exert control over… everything!

Campus Reform went around George Washington University in 2019 and got lots of college students to agree that the crosswalk sign is racist. Student after student signed the petition to change the sign. Watch the full video and be AMAZED at the stupidity of many of today’s youth.

Kaufman has received a lot of feedback on his Twitter. Hopefully, he’ll consider some of the criticism and check his own heart.

Follow me on Parler @JCotrinski