Last month, Ayana Wyse took the stage alongside five other Black panelists at a discussion in Tokyo¡¯s Toranomon business district.
Some backstory on Wyse: She has been living in Japan for 12 years, and during this time she founded Black Creatives Japan as well as organized Black Lives Matter marches in 2020. She¡¯s also the co-founder of the recently launched Don magazine and is just one of the many members of our community who tries to organize and give back.
Here she was on a stage in front of me, taking part in ¡¯s Let¡¯s Talk About It: Mental Health event. She recounted an incident at a preschool she taught at in Kansai. One student¡¯s parents took a dislike to her for reasons that are still unclear to Wyse, though she was told she looks ¡°scary.¡± This narrative spread among the other parents and led to Wyse¡¯s contract being terminated.
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