The Importance of Representation and Going Above and Beyond Just to Be Seen
“Representation matters… People need people...and if those people look like me, imma help those people”
- Talayah Lemon
Augustana sophomore Talayah Lemon speaks on her position as a Community Advisor, known as CA, for first-year students. She explains how CA’s make rounds checking the residence halls at night on weekdays and weekends, act as aids to residents for any support the students need, and being a big sister/big brother role to their residents. “My mom really wanted me to do it…” Talayah says, sharing the benefits of being a CA with partial room and board paid and getting an income. “That was the main reason I applied, but after going through training, I saw that it was a good opportunity for me to get out of my comfort zone…”
In responding to what inspires her in her work as a CA, Lemon recalls Area Coordinator Ariel Rogers and Daneel Gayle, both women of color who work for residential life. “It feels like they can do their job effortlessly...I’m all for representation of people of color, I think that’s important…”. She says she can to go to them for support as she can relate to them and it makes it easier for her doing her job as a CA. I asked Talayah about what challenges she faces in her position, considering social barriers like race. She says it seemed like people didn’t come to her due to distinction in race because she is black and the majority of her residents are white. Even considering that there is another black woman that is a CA, she feels like an outsider because she does not really hang out with white people like her coworker does.
Talayah also expressed some of the pressures she faced. As a CA, she has to put together programs and have her residents go to them based on cultural competency and diversity. However, they do not attend these events and she feels pressure to pressure them to go to these important events, which is difficult. Going further, I asked if most of the conflict is because her residents are white students. “You gotta educate them as much as you can” she says highlighting the importance of such cultural events and the benefit of understanding issues in today’s society.
Lemon answers the questions of how her identity and her position coincide and influence her job.“I'm a CA, right? And then, on top of that I'm a Black CA...My identity has something to do with...how people see me...If I weren't a black person...would there be more interaction?” Going back to the small interaction she has with some of her residents, it seems to be more difficult for them to come to her due to their different identities. Talayah also says that she has to over exceed in her work as a CA because of the stereotypes that people have of black people, such as being lazy or not doing their job. She says she has to work harder and even then it feels like her work gets looked over. She states clearly, “not to be conceited, but I deserve more recognition than I get”.
In the end, Talayah says she’s learned leadership skills and how to be a leader for her people. She also says that being a CA taught her that she needs to be a mentor, especially to people that look like her and her peers and shows how important it is. She also gets at how important representation is, especially for marginalized identities who do not have people in helping positions that look like themselves. Lemon says, “People need people...we don't realize how much people need other people. And if people look like me, imma help those people.”
