Tokens

"That incident taught me that even if you are a token, you have an important function to fulfill. Many times since, when I have been the only African American or the only woman in a situation, I have spoken up for greater representation. But I have always first made a point of contributing my thinking to the work at hand. The value of a group is that each member brings the benefit of his or her life experience. If you hold back, not only is the group deprived, but you have lost an opportunity to contribute." - Dr. Dorothy Height

For my final paper, I read the book Open Wide The Freedom Gates by Dr. Dorothy Height. While I found the entire book insightful and encouraging this passage in particular stood out to me the most and I wanted to share it with everyone. I think this passage sums up what we have been talking about in class. Often in class we said that we did not necessarily feel comfortable standing up in particular situations because of our age or because of our position at work or we did not see the discrimination against women. However, in many ways I think we are all tokens. We may be the only woman or man, the only person of our particular race or sexuality, the only southerner, westerner, or northerner. And yet it is because of our "token" qualities that we have certain ideas, certain ideologies, or certain points of view. So, instead of hiding behind our "token qualities" as a reason for not speaking up we should embrace Dr. Height's suggestion and share our thoughts, experiences, and suggestions. I believe that it is only by sharing these parts of ourselves that we can truly begin to get to know one another and create the kind of change that we want to see.