Last night at the Tony Awards, all four actor/actress awards for a musical went to people of color. All were black, though Daveed Diggs is half black.
Please don't misunderstand; I am absolutely thrilled about this. However, I disagree with calling these results "diverse." Only one race is represented in this win, and while it's extraordinary that this happened, it still is only one race. A diverse win would include people of different races. For instance, it would have been diverse if the winners were a black person, a white person, an Asian person, and a Latinx person. Instead of saying that these results are diverse, I would say that these results are colorful. The wins are filled with people of color.
If we were going to put this statement in terms of diversity, we would say that these results increase the diversity of the pool of winners in these categories. Because Leslie Odom Jr won best actor in a musical, the pool of winners of this award (within the history of the Tonys) is now more diverse.
If we are going to talk about diversity, we need to acknowledge what it means. We need to know what is diverse and what is not diverse. Diverse does not mean "not white."
So are we fighting for diversity or against the domination of white?
