Dear Apple,
" When I send my friends emojis, I would like to, at the very least, have one emoji that is somewhat represents my identity. Not having an African American emoji makes be feel left out of the Apple community."
The Apple Corporation has failed again to include an African American Emoji in the IOS6 update. We live in a multiracial society. Emojis should reflect our diverse society. Institutionalized racial discrimination should be illegal. By excluding African Americans in Emojis, Apple is directly eliminating us from their scope of how they view the world.
Apple has tremendous influence in today's society and with this comes responsibility. By leaving out African Americans, Apple is perpetuating the belief that we live in a colorblind society. Apple has recently recognized the need for lesbian and gay couples as emojis and we applaud that. But again the gay and lesbian couple were both white. Why could it have not been a Caucasian and an African American gay couple? Or a Hispanic and an Asian lesbian couple?
Apple prides itself in building strong relationships with its buyers and taking strong stances on social and environment issues. You set your standard and we want you to fulfill it. In the next 20 years, Caucasians will no longer be the majority and apple needs to recognize that. They need to acknowledge that as a corporation, they have a responsibility to represent all its users through all its products.
