"In my first year of speech, I had this ADS about being from Africa . It crashed out at NFA. I cried. I went into the bathroom that night and slapped myself. And until last year, every time I crashed out of a speech tournament, I slapped myself because I could feel myself slink further into oblivion. I hated losing not because of the feeling of loss itself . But the almost entire invisibility that came with losing was frustrating while being a part of the community." We try our best to be accommodating to all. And we have done a rather great job at that. Organically, however, this community has created an elitism of sorts that places students and schools who are relatively less successful on the periphery of the activity. They're there to amplify the thunderous singular claps at award ceremonies, to justify calling tournaments 'national', and to increase the size of the 'community'. For many, it feels like when you don't win, you aren't seen.
Mugabe Is Dead: Stories of Exclusion Within the Forensics Community