We Are More Than Just Your Diversity Check List
Have you ever been watching a show at the theatre, or a movie or a TV show and found yourself thinking: ‘Ah there’s the token POC so this production doesn’t look racist’? Because I can’t count the amount of times that has happened to me. Growing up, I watched a lot of Bollywood movies but naturally I also loved watching Hollywood movies and I also loved getting to go on school trips to the theatre to see different shows. However, the number of times I would see myself represented on stage or on the big screen was scarce. I remember thinking that one day it would get better. At one point I even dreamed of being on stage myself as an Indian performer in the West End. Now I find myself in the big year of 2021 and I feel like we’ve barely moved from the point we were at ten years ago. Conversations surrounding diversity – or the lack thereof – are getting louder, but a lot of these conversations are still mostly coming from POC. Our voices are going hoarse at how much we’re fighti...