Why Representation Matters
[Written by Jewel Pearson, September 2, 2017]
As probably the most vocal person of color in the tiny house movement, I continually press for representation in the community and at events. These comments are why. A friend in the movement has a video tour of my tiny house on his site and there are currently 645 comments, with many of them expressing the same sentiment of excitement of seeing a Black person in the movement. One main comment expressing that has forty-nine replies of people sharing how surprised and excited they were, how fast they clicked on the video when they saw my brown face. There were also a couple of those “we’re all one race”, “we’re all humans”, why would you make this about race?” comments.
While some of my counterparts don’t seem to get it, don’t care to get it, don’t have to get it, are focused more on revenue and less on content, whatever the case is that prevents them from affecting positive change, I’d like to explain why representation is so important in this movement. Yes, we’re all one race and we’re all humans – however, until racism is no longer a thing the experience of Black people moving about in this world will always be different. Period. Imagine for a honest few minutes that you were interested in something; golf, running, yoga or even tiny houses and as you began to pursue your interest you went to an event, a workshop or signed up to attend a race and the majority of the speakers, event organizers or participants were Black… Then as you became more interested and continued to pursue your interest, attended events, looked at information online, etc you rarely, if ever, saw anyone of the same race as you. If you’re honest you’d admit that you’d be uncomfortable. If you’re honest you’d admit that you’d begin to question whether whatever you were interested in was for you. If you’re honest you’d admit you might change your mind about being interested in said thing if that continued to be your experience.
Let me give you another example. When I’m at my best I’m working out regularly and running. Working out and running is tough on your skin and hair care regimen – across the board for all races. However, until just a few years ago when I’d read running magazines and they’d share suggestions for haircare and skincare – it wasn’t ever relevant to me. As a Black woman my regimen and my products are different. A lack of personal connection and representation can be enough to discourage someone’s participation. Here’s another example, when I first joined the tiny house movement early on I didn’t see anyone that looked like me. I did my in-depth research, attended a workshop, visited a tiny house and I built my tiny house. I understood the concerns regarding legality and parking that the community faces, I was prepared for all of that. What I wasn’t prepared for was the racism I experienced in the RV Park where I first placed my tiny house or the racism experience in a Facebook group or the racist comments sometimes left on my pictures. Not one person I’d bought material from or connected with in the movement could have given me a heads up that might have prepared me to think and prepare accordingly. Not one presenter at the workshop I attended could have understood that in addition to the legality and parking issues that the entire community faces, I’d also need to consider racism as an issue in rural areas where I might consider parking my tiny house or in the areas where I might attend a tiny house festival. That I might need a different game plan for tiny house parking than what are the standard go to options. Not one person could relate to me as to how that would feel. Would it taint my entire tiny house experience, would it make me afraid to live in my tiny home or would I be uncomfortable attending tiny house events. Why not? Simply because that’s not their experience. Yet those are some of the questions asked now of me and other Black people in the movement and we’re able to share our perspective, give an honest answer, and provide some guidance based on personal experience.
Obviously if your walk in the world is as the majority these things might not be something you’d ever have to consider. However if your walk in this life is to be a decent human being, these things are something that you SHOULD consider. Thinking outside of yourself and your experience is the basis for being a decent human being. In the interim, I’ll continue to be vocal, I’ll continue to speak on diversity and representation and we’ll continue to ensure we’re never exclusive, but always included.
Representation is important and it matters.
For more to this story read: “Everyone’s welcome”: The facade of the tiny house movement
