Shorts: Do Your Examples Look Like You?
Because they should.
This will just be a short snippet because I realize I haven't posted recently.
**I'd like to preface this by saying that I was not present to hear firsthand the sermonette referred to below. Everything I mention was told me to about the event after the fact.
A friend attended a church in Harlem that we go to on and off and subsequently regaled me with the talking points. As I was regaled, the talking points including finding your purpose and citations of some important figures in recent history who "followed their dreams" and were purpose-driven about attaining goals. What I found most interesting about this was that the speaker of this purpose-driven life focused sermonette, a young, Black woman I know, apparently used all male, mostly white references for showcasing desireable behavior.
Men like Jeff Bezos (owner and creator of Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook who back-stabbed his friend in the process and is now dealing with the fallout of Cambridge Analytica harvesting yours and your friends data in attempt to sway an election), Bill Gates (philanthropist and Microsoft creator), Gandhi (...is this one not obvious?), and of course, MLK Jr. (whose dream we're still fighting to achieve today).
Frankly, this was disheartening to hear. Why are people of color, specifically women of color, never thought of when discussing reaching your goals and attaining success? We have some great women who's reached the stars as well like Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Michelle Obama, Arundhati Roy, Roxane Gay, Kara Walker, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Oprah just to name a few. I'm not saying we shouldn't give commendation where commendation is due. I'm saying when giving examples of successful people, especially when speaking to a primarily Black, at least half female audience, choose examples that more accurately fit the demographic you're speaking to. Show the youth that they can be Black AND great. And if they don't know of the women you reference, use it as a teaching moment. Show young, Black youth that they don't have to aspire to be great white men because there are great women of color they can look to and identify with instead.
Congratulations to the young lady who gave the sermonette yesterday. My only point to anyone speaking to a crowd of mostly young, exclusively Black people would be to reinforce the importance of representation when citing aspirational figures.
This will just be a short snippet because I realize I haven't posted recently.
**I'd like to preface this by saying that I was not present to hear firsthand the sermonette referred to below. Everything I mention was told me to about the event after the fact.
A friend attended a church in Harlem that we go to on and off and subsequently regaled me with the talking points. As I was regaled, the talking points including finding your purpose and citations of some important figures in recent history who "followed their dreams" and were purpose-driven about attaining goals. What I found most interesting about this was that the speaker of this purpose-driven life focused sermonette, a young, Black woman I know, apparently used all male, mostly white references for showcasing desireable behavior.
Men like Jeff Bezos (owner and creator of Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook who back-stabbed his friend in the process and is now dealing with the fallout of Cambridge Analytica harvesting yours and your friends data in attempt to sway an election), Bill Gates (philanthropist and Microsoft creator), Gandhi (...is this one not obvious?), and of course, MLK Jr. (whose dream we're still fighting to achieve today).
Frankly, this was disheartening to hear. Why are people of color, specifically women of color, never thought of when discussing reaching your goals and attaining success? We have some great women who's reached the stars as well like Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Michelle Obama, Arundhati Roy, Roxane Gay, Kara Walker, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Oprah just to name a few. I'm not saying we shouldn't give commendation where commendation is due. I'm saying when giving examples of successful people, especially when speaking to a primarily Black, at least half female audience, choose examples that more accurately fit the demographic you're speaking to. Show the youth that they can be Black AND great. And if they don't know of the women you reference, use it as a teaching moment. Show young, Black youth that they don't have to aspire to be great white men because there are great women of color they can look to and identify with instead.
Congratulations to the young lady who gave the sermonette yesterday. My only point to anyone speaking to a crowd of mostly young, exclusively Black people would be to reinforce the importance of representation when citing aspirational figures.
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| This could be a future world leader right here, all because she saw Aunty Michelle's portrait and realized, 'She looks like me, which means I could do it too.' |
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