The Inquisitors of Art

                              The Inquisitors of Art

In December 2018 Chinyere Ezie, a lawyer at a social-justice nonprofit, discovered Prada’s Pradamalia collection. Prada described its bag charms, figurines, and other trinkets as “a new family of mysterious tiny creatures that are one part biological, one part technological, all parts Prada.” Ms. Ezie instead saw “blackface imagery” and “Sambo like imagery,” she wrote in a Facebook post that went viral.

Within days, Prada pulled the merchandise and said it “never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery." Ms. Ezie still filed a complaint. In this week’s settlement, Prada denies engaging in unlawful discriminatory practices. Yet the agreement gives New York City bureaucrats broad influence over the fashion house’s day-to-day operations, including its creative process, training, and hiring.

Prada now must appoint a diversity and inclusion officer who can review all of “Prada’s designs before they are sold, advertised or promoted in any way in the United States.” The diversity cop will ensure that “Prada’s activities, including, without limitation, its production, advertising, and business activities, are conducted in a racially equitable manner.”

Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis said this “really never became about a free speech issue” because Prada was “immediately very cooperative” with regulators. But it’s only a matter of time before the inclusion czar nixes creative content over a political sin.

Prada also must create an advisory council to help the company “stay abreast of global social issues related to race, culture, and diversity” and “create meaningful and cooperative partnerships with social justice organizations, including organizations that advance equity for marginalized communities, including communities of color.” 

(In the original statement, organizations are referred to as people.)

The settlement requires Prada to provide the human-rights commission with “a report describing the demographic make-up of Prada’s staff at all levels” and “evidence that it has taken meaningful steps towards increasing the number of people from protected classes under-represented in the fashion industry, including people of color, among all levels of its staff.”

It is said that there was a bottleneck in history, a narrow place in time where, out of a vast and diverse homo sapien population, only a small group slipped through to populate the future. They brought with them the qualities that have allowed us to develop and hinder our success. That bottleneck must have allowed through farsightedness and the jeweler's eye. It also allowed the pure of heart and the tyrannically pure. The latter always reappear in every generation in various soul-crushing guises.

(Much from a WSJ piece)