Written by guest blogger Shannon Powers

Representation matters. We hear it all the time, right? But most of us are desensitized to this fact because it’s not something many of us think about on a daily basis. Unless, of course, you’re brown or black, then it’s something always at the fore.

I look to how far we have come in the world—in media, television, and movies—where we once were seen as thugs, strippers, dead beat parents, welfare leeches, and drug dealers, we are now seen as strong business people, politicians, loving parents, and overall, just well-rounded, successful individuals. But we still have so far to travel.

I grew up military and I lived in England for much of my childhood. It was a juxtaposition of the melting pot that is the military community, and the British school system, which was quite binary, where mixed race children were not really present. Growing up, I was the in-between colour—my mother is white British and my father is black American. I was too dark for the white kids and too light for the black kids. I was this kind of alien. I had few friends and struggled to really fit in or find my place.