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Black & Pink News
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Tokenism is Just Triangulation with Extra Steps By Sharonda Harris-Marshall In daily run-ins with white people, I’ve often wondered why they consider white privilege an abstraction. And one day it hit me: most white individuals I’ve encountered don’t “believe” in white privilege because of token Black people. Because a few select BIPOC flourish in an otherwise white space, stubborn white people don’t understand why other Black people struggle. How can white privilege exist if Black Harvard grads exist? America voted in a Black president so why are Black people still complaining about racial inequalities? For most of my life, I’ve occupied the token role. As a child, I was once the only Black child in my school. I was often one of a handful of minorities in my honor classes. I was the only Black person in my fine arts program in college. I work in predominately white fields and I’m praised unnecessarily for just existing. I’m often the only Black person or one of a handful representing my professional interests. But tokenism is harmful to marginalized people. It’s an abusive tactic used to reinforce white supremacy even in the people it supposedly benefits. Tokenism is triangulation with extra steps.
