EDITOR’S NOTE: This story will be updated. At the family’s request, WHTC has removed the photo of the mother and child featured in the original commercial. The video has been removed from the CVB’s YouTube channel.
HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — The most-recent U.S. Census Bureau figures about the City of Holland reflect a population comprised by about 68 percent white people; 23 percent Hispanic or Latino people; 4.5 percent Black people; nearly 3 percent Asian people; with a half percent of the city’s residents being Native Americans or Alaska Natives — and other races represented in much smaller numbers.
But a recently produced Holland Convention and Visitors Bureau commercial airing on television and cable stations showed only white people, and that, said Holland Mayor Nathan Bocks, “doesn’t accurately reflect the wonderful diversity that makes Holland such a special place.” (Listen to his complete WHTC interview.)
Bocks provided the voiceover, belatedly realized the problem, and called CVB Executive Director Linda Hart. The CVB removed the link shared on the agency’s Facebook page and made plans to re-do the commercial.
He called it a teachable moment, adding that he was embarrassed to have missed the omission during production, calling it both “a personal failing” and “a good teaching moment” as well as a reminder to be more aware and take the opportunity to talk about these kinds of issues and places where we’re not seeing all that we need to see.”
The Rev. Denise Kingdom Grier shared a link to the video on her Facebook page, writing “…and you (city of Holland) cannot say because you are not white we have no need of you.” There is a more excellent way. See 1cor13project.com.” The 1cor13project is, in part, “a collaborative resource to center the health, healing, and wholeness of Black people … ” and aimed at counteracting “the debilitating effects of the American church’s complicity in 400 years of failure to love black people,” according to the website’s About page.
Ottawa County Commissioner and Holland resident Doug Zylstra reacted with a Facebook post, after seeing the commercial, writing “The Visitor’s Bureau does a lot of great work, but Holland is all of us, not just ‘some of us’. I worry that this ad gives outsiders a mistaken impression of the rich diversity of City of Holland residents and is not truly representative of the Holland we call home.”
Holland Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Linda Hart said travel to Holland proved popular over the summer. (Listen to her complete WHTC interview.) She and others wanted to highlight Holland’s outdoor adventures as a holiday experience — and the safety factors people would find in terms of outdoor restaurant service, masks and other pandemic-safety measures.
But time was short, she said, and with the city offering video production services and a 24-hour timeline, “we ended up using staff and family to create it,” she said.
Once the commercial hit social media, “it became very apparent diversity was missing and we knew at that point we had to re-do the commercial,” she said. “We just wanted to put out some love for the community, for our downtown — to let them know that, hey, we’re going to do whatever we can try do to let them know that keep down town Holland a thriving business community and a place to visit.”
Bocks said he’s hoping the new version is a commercial everyone loves. He said there have been a series of diversity and equity forums in the past and will be in the future.
He said community leaders, “are constantly trying to do our best, to better ourselves and be more aware of these kinds of things and respond to them in ways that truly celebrate everyone that calls Holland home.”
That’s not close to a 100-percent solution, he noted.
“Do we still have work to do? Obviously,” he said. “We’ll always have work to do with these kinds of things. We’ll make mistakes along the way and we’re going to do our best to remedy those, apologize when that happens and move forward, and say, you know, we’re going to try to do a better job in the future.”
Hart said the new version of the commercial should be completed and airing soon, with a schedule that could last to the end of this year.
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