I once was introduced as a speaker by a prominent local who described me as a “disruptor” & later made a “joke” that you weren’t REALLY a local in that city if you didn’t have at least 3 generations buried in the local cemetery. She might have said 5, I can’t quite remember. 1/

When I took the stage, I thanked her, noted that I wasn’t often introduced as a disruptor, but if I was one, I would start by pointing out that u shouldn’t need ANY generations of your family buried in the local cemetery to be considered a local, an equal citizen of the city. 2/

Over my career of probably thousands of public or council events, I’ve seen a LOT of discrimination & diminishing of people couched in subtle or overt language of who is “more of” or “really” a citizen of a community. It has NEVER been acceptable, & it should be called out. 3/