A fourth grader sent a letter to the Rishon Lezion Municipality, in which she brought the mayor's attention to the homogenous representation of the city's children.
The girl noted in her letter that a booklet issued by a community center in the city featured only fair-skinned children and did not represent the variety of the city's youth.
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In response, Mayor Dov Tzur issueda directive ordering all future publications relating to the city to use photos of children who are in fact residents of Rishon Lezion.
- No one spoke out when the promotional booklet distributed by the municipality – for a community center in the Neve Dekalim neighborhood – bore only fair-skinned children but the young girl.
Her letter read, "The booklet for the Neve Dekalim community center has at least 25 children. All the children in the pictures are fair-skinned and that does not represent all the kids in town."
"I think that dark-skinned children that would read through this booklet might feel jealous," the girl continued. "A dark-skinned child might say: I can't be a part of this because I'm dark-skinned. Anyway, it's also obvious that many children in the Neve Dekalim neighborhood are not fair-skinned."
The letter concluded with a clear request: "I would be happy to see you change that in future publications."
- Sources in city hall said that the photos that were used in the booklet were taken from Israel 'snational photo-bank and were chosen randomly. Following the girl's letter, the municipality has decided to put together an archive of photos of the city's children.
Mayor Tzur said in response: "The girl is right. I am happy that she took the initiative and acted on this. She gave us a new perspective. Thanks to her insightful remark we will now make some changes. I urge her and others to keep drawing our attention to such issues."