on spokespeople

i’ve been binging on podcasts about race. one of these is intersectionality by jamil smith.

episode 7 is an interview with janet mock, a journalist who happens to be trans. somewhere near the middle of the show, jamil asked janet, “how does it feel to be a spokesperson?” she responded that it sucks to only get asked questions about identity. she wished that she was asked more about what she’s trained at doing: journalism and storytelling.

and yet, for the rest of the show, jamil asked questions exclusively dealing with her identity as either trans, black, a woman, some combination of those things, or all of them at once.

that’s weird, right?

but janet herself explained that she’s using her voice now as activist. and if an activist isn’t a spokesperson, i don’t know what is.

so what to do?