Tokenism

Richard Dyer argues in his article, "The Matter of Whiteness," that being white is invisible unless it is in direct relation with a minority. We are bombarded with images of whiteness that we don't recognize it. Because of this, as a young white woman, it is hard for me to understand the concept of tokenism.

In a question and answer session with minority PR agents, the question "Do you ever feel like the token black woman in your workplace?" was asked. I realized that I have never imagined feeling this way. Yes, I'm a woman, which is a subordinate group. However, because half the population is women, it's hard to feel like a token woman. I don't really have the concept of being the token anything.

I've learned in various situations that by being white I don't really understand when anything that isn't blatant racism is around me. For example, I dated a guy who was multiracial and had dark skin and dark features. He constantly related things to race and would let me know when he noticed people giving me a weird look. I never noticed. At the time I just thought he was paranoid, but I've since understood that I was oblivious because I've never thought of anything like that directed towards me.

It is not good to have no concept of tokenism. In order to appreciate what you have, you need to experience what it could be like. It's never good to be the token, but it is also not good to never realize that it happens. In doing so you'll only continue the passive racism and tokenism that happens in our society.