USC has seen two great, lumbering issues of race and inequality play out in our home state this month — Walter Scott's killing and the suspension of a student for writing a racial slur on a study room whiteboard.
These events are some of the main forces behind the ongoing conversation about race at USC. Issues like institutionalized police racism, economic injustice and what to do about them have now garnered more attention than ever before.
So, with all this going on, it might be easy to overlook something as small as Apple's changes to the Emoji, adding different skin tones to a select number of "people" Emojis and changing default color from white to Homer Simpson yellow.
Now, holding down the particular Emoji will bring up a selection of five different skin tones, from which the user can set a new default of their own choosing.
While relatively minor in comparison with other recent events, we believe that this development is a positive step forward because it helps change the long-running misconception that white is the "default" skin color.
It is fighting a culture that pushes a simple narrative: White people are more worth paying attention to. There is a reason that most Disney princesses and action heroes look a very specific way (with few exceptions).
Apple has attempted to change this idea in a place that is widely used: the Emoji keyboard. It is a change that has been a long time coming and acts as an example for other companies who have the same or similar cultural influence.
It is a small step. It will not change how the police treat minorities. It will not change the socio-economic inequalities which plague poor black communities. It will not stop students from writing racist words on school whiteboards.
But Apple's Emoji changes, no matter how small they seem, helps contribute to overthrowing one of the prevailing unconscious modes of racist thought in our culture, and for that we commend them.