DEAR GRAPEVINE

The May issue of the Grapevine featured a beautiful picture of a herd of elephants on page 3, a larger version of which formed the backdrop for the "Out of Africa" cover story on page 11. Elephants played no role in the story itself. I was therefore left with the impression that the elephants were intended to symbolize Africa. I'm sure you did not intend such symbolization to be offensive, but it is--it represents and reinforces the European colonial stereotyping of Africa as inhabited (only) by wild animals. I would appreciate your sensitizing your staff to this and similar issues particularly in relation to underrepresented racial and ethnic populations within the worldwide Fellowship of AA.