Tokenized: They Wouldn't Let Her Speak
If I do not show up one day, you're going to scan the room and go, "Where's the black girl at?" Like, you're going to know I'm not there. So I have to be 100% on my game all the time.
I couldn't reconcile the fact that I am 100% ready for this. I'm not allowed to speak to media; I'm not allowed to speak in the house; I'm not being sent anywhere.
What kind of trick does that play on your mind? What does that do to the mind of a person when they know that the only thing that they're there for is, like, oh my God, look at this, I'm black and, oh my God, look at these, I'm a woman?
Now you're in a position where you have to decide whether there's something wrong with you—and there might be, who knows, right?—and that you're not up to scratch for the role and you're being sidelined because of your incompetence.
Or you have to decide that there's something seriously rotten behind the stage at the wonderful world of Oz and whether the people pulling the strings behind the scenes are just not exactly who they should be.