Dawn Ennis (She/Her/Hers)

31 of you voted and the clear winner is the Toyota RAV4!

#FreeBrittneyGrinerhttps://twitter.com/espn/status/1525098665542574082 …

#HireJayStobiehttps://twitter.com/StobiesGalaxy/status/1524875158577635335 …

In my list of "outsiders", I left out muslims! My bad.

I'm not telling you whom to hire. But do choose inclusive candidates instead of the white cis het married guy you, the white cis het married boss, are inclined to hire. Ending the trend of "performative" people requires we all rise up. Ending the "othering" requires inclusion.

I'm not telling you whom to vote for. But do vote, and look for the candidates who, if they themselves do not represent a marginalized group, surround themselves with folx who are.

So now we are all paying the price, and our children's future is at stake. Generations will be impacted by what happens in November and in 2024. Will you just sit back and let it happen? Or will you step up? Take the initiative. If you cannot lead, then follow someone who will.

That campaign was also done in by white women who rejected Hillary Clinton as performative, and as weak in comparison to a lying maniac. Trump's campaign won by recognizing the electoral college, not the popular vote, wins the general election. And elections have consequences.

The lesson I think we missed in 2016 is that Hillary Clinton lost that election not just because people didn't like her, but because her campaign wrote off voters: The Latinx/hispanic voter and white non-urban population that felt ignored by the campaign, because they were.

We already live in a diverse world. What I wish we had was a more inclusive one. We won't get there unless we all practice it, and that means tearing down silos, and building bridges, and yes, calling out performative people who are "preferred" and showcased by the media.

To get there, we will need the help of white cis het binary folx to hire and elect more nonwhites and LGBTQ+ and nonbinary and non-Christians to better represent all of us. That's not to say we should not elect and hire white cis het binary Christians, too, just not exclusively.

But imagine a world in which being who you are is not something to be called out as "not the norm." Where being "X" isn't something the white cis het binary folks have to signal as "different," "special," or "other."

And if those white cis het leaders and storytellers didn't waste time focusing on "performing" for the camera or the reader with useless actions maybe "performative" wouldn't be a criticism leveled at them. I get that TV is all about being "performative" to keep viewers tuned in.

If those who hold the keys to the kingdom and those who tell their stories were to better reflect the populace, meaning if our elected representatives and journalists looked like ALL of us, we would all be better off.

Gays, lesbians, Blacks, brown ppl, Asians, Native American, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, pagans, and us trans & nonbinary folx... every one of us is an "outsider." Yet "billionaires" and "celebrities" get their full attention although they're just as rare. That's fucked up.

And I think the reason this happens is not because Black and brown and other non-white folx aren't doing the work, it's that the media is dominated by white cis het men, and a whole lot of white cis het women, too. Consciously or not, they focus the spotlight on their own kind.