More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)

by Elaine Welteroth

A funny thing happens when you become what Shonda Rhimes has so brilliantly dubbed an FOD: First. Only. Different. There is an assumption that simply by being first, by succeeding in rarefied White spaces, your existence comes with built-in credentials that make you an expert on diversity and inclusion. And maybe to some degree it does, but sensitive topics surrounding race and gender are not easily unpacked in America, and the truth is we have to teach ourselves how to speak intelligently about them, just like anyone else. Yet we are expected to learn quickly how to walk the often precarious line between representing an underrepresented perspective without speaking in sweeping generalizations that trod on the White power structure that gave you the platform to begin with. At times it can feel as if you are being asked to carry the torch for an entire race of people who never had our voices, our experiences, our cultures represented with dignity in mass media. It’s a dance you learn quickly because, ready or not, it comes with the FOD territory. But the best part of being an FOD is the tribe that comes along with it.