This has been on my mind for a while now, and it's become clear to me within my last few months of posting on Odyssey. And I felt that since this is the last article that I'll write for this platform, this is the most fitting for me to write about. At first, it didn't bother me, but I started to realize that me being complacent about the issue actually added more fuel in the fire.
The more I started to think about it, the more I thought, "Wow, Odyssey doesn't care enough about black people," and then the more I thought about it, I started to feel like Odyssey didn't care for any of its minority groups that much.
Now, don't get me wrong. There has been a fair share of articles that have made it to the Facebook page or the front of the Odyssey page about injustices in minority communities around America or a minority's perspective on something. But the fact of the matter is, we don't hear enough about these narratives.
On the "ABOUT" page of Odyssey, it states that the platform
"... democratizes content, giving people the opportunity to share what's most important to them and their communities, enriching everyone with broader, more honest perspectives on topics they care about."
But really, does Odyssey highlight articles that truly give writers the opportunity to share what's most important to them? Does it really give honest perspectives, or do people just read articles with the fancy click-bait titles and five-worded articles?
And I love my fair share of "15 Beauty Hacks Every College Girl Should Know" type of articles, and heck, I've written articles just like these. But what I don't love is that when I write about something that I truly care about pertaining to feminism, race, or social injustice, it seems to get much less of the limelight than an article asking, "Am I Being Ghosted?"
And I'm not hating on Odyssey because those are the type of articles they choose to post on their Facebook pages or because that's what most people see when they open onto the front page. I just think that maybe more emphasis can be put on minority voices and perspectives for a change. I think it's important (especially with the specific demographic that Odyssey caters to) to shed light to some of these perspectives and help readers gain more knowledge and opinions about what our generation is going through on a day to day basis.
It's been a pleasure working with my amazing editors, Nicole and Aasha for the past two years, and I couldn't ask to be part of a better community. I'm happy for the opportunity to be able to write for such a large platform and have my work propelled onto the forefront for some of the internet to see.
I'm excited to see what will happen with Odyssey later down the line, but for now, I think there's still some work to be done to address some of these issues.
