Do you hold skin colour privilege? Have you been accused of anti-blackness or racism? If you’ve said “Yes!” to both questions, then it’s time to Get Tokénoir!

First, What is Tokénoir?

Styled after the word misogynoir coined by Moya Bailey, tokénoir is a combination of the word tokenism and the French word for black which is noir. Tokénoir thus becomes:

the practice of those with skin colour privilege mentioning friends, family members, co-workers, neighbours, and colleagues (just to name a few) of African descent to give the appearance that they are exceptional, and not racist, due to their proximity to blackness.”

When accused of racism, those with skin colour privilege share all the ways they support, sleep with, date, marry, and adopt those of African descent as proof of their racial inclusion and enlightenment.

Yet, the opposite happens. Tokenizing people of African descent is, indeed, an element of racism because it dehumanizes them and reduces them to nothing more than tools to be used.

Tokenism is also a way to deflect attention from the action people with skin colour privilege have no intention of taking to interrogate their unconscious biases around racism, shadism, and colourism.

This attempt to deflect, minimize, deny, and ignore one’s racial biases or the lived experience of those who experience racial harassment is what Dr. Robin DiAngelo calls white fragility.

But that doesn’t matter! It’s all about returning one’s self to comfort when confronted with the ugly truth of their anti-blackness. Tokénoir is just the thing to distract from the ugly truth that racism lives within.

Get Tokénoir!

Collect as many Tokénoir and be the ENVY of your skinfolk! Tokénoir exists within the imagination of those with skin colour privilege, and unlike other card games, trading tokens are not allowed. Why? Because you are allowed anywhere at any time. For that reason, go out and create the experience of tokénoir so that when you collect the related card, you’ll have a glorious and fanciful story to share.

Each cute #tokenoir monster represents the statement used to deflect attention from the person’s deep seated anti-blackness. Scroll down to see the entire collection of tokens you can collect.

Get Parentien

You can proudly proclaim, “I can’t be racist! I’m a parent to a [choose all that apply: black foster child / bi-racial child / adopted black child / step black child]!” when you have many of me in your collection.

Get Magiquar

Collect as many as me as you can so you can confidently respond to accusations of racism with names of every black film you’re watching, black author you’re reading, and black activist you’re following on social media.

Get Datinga

You can use me to show that you have a pattern of being in romantic relationships with black folks. Collect one of me for the one you dated in college, another for the co-worker who was a friends with benefits. Good times!

Get Marriox

Use me whenever you need to remind black folks that, because you’re married to a beautiful black person, you can’t possibly be racist.

Get Sistahlax

Present me around angry black women to let them know that your Inner Black Woman is just as upset and rage-y.

Get Ancestrean

Get me to show that you can’t be racist because your (imagined & unnamed) 4th great-grandma was an enslaved African, or if your DNA test shows 1% African ancestry.

Get Sponsorius

I’m useful should you need to share that you’re funding the tuition or daily needs of a black student either locally or abroad.

Get Tribacean

I’m hard to collect, but once you have me, you can wow them with your allyship by telling them you were adopted by an African tribe on your recent missionary trip.

Which One Have You Collected?

Here’s the collector’s guide to help you keep track. More tokens will be added, so check back to see how you can continue to tokenize people of African descent in your claims of being an ally or advocate.

Originally published here and is listed as Expressive Writing Prompt #38 in the Unpack Biases Now workbook. Images of cartoon monsters courtesy of Shutterstock. When sharing this work, both the cartoons and the word tokénoir, give FULL attribution to Leesa Renee Hall, Anti-Bias Facilitator. You can also use the short URL www.gettokenoir.com and the hashtag #tokenoir to help with sharing.