A group of artists in Portland, OR named the Opal Collective are wondering why no people of color want to join, even though there aren’t any in the group to begin with.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” head of the organization, Izzy Johnson, said. “I’ve posted so many Instagram stories about our open slots for artists, and I know everyone has tried to spread the word as much as possible about how great our group is, but still no luck, even though I know it’d be better with more diversity.”
Sources close to Izzy reported, however, that she doesn’t have any non-white friends to inform about the group.
The people of color who did learn about this collective felt uneasy about joining them.
“It sounded really cool, but once I saw that it was a whole group made up of 25 white people,” ceramist Lelani Tellman said, “I decided to pass.”
“I don’t want to be their token person of color just so they can say that they’re inclusive,” painter Jordan Musa told reporters. “And they obviously weren’t thinking about diversity when they were forming the group — they just realized how white they are, so now they’re panicking.”
However, despite the claims that they’re a homogenous organization, Izzy Johnson argues that the collective already welcomes people from all sorts of backgrounds.
“Most of the group is queer,” Johnson said. “Does that not count for something?”
She also added that just because the group started out a certain way, that doesn’t mean that it can’t grow in another direction.
“Sure, I handpicked all of these people at the start because I love their work, and they do all happen to be white,” she said. “But I know that there are a lot of talented people from different backgrounds than us, so why aren’t they joining?”
At press time, the Opal Collective is conducting a workshop about how to honor other cultures in your art instead of appropriating them, which is being led by a white person.
