Student activist excited to steal content from race and ethnicity class for her Instagram posts

Kayla Turner was only eight years old when she took her first steps towards becoming an advocate for diversity.

“I told my dad to buy me a chihuahua instead of a golden lab for my birthday,” she said. Ever since that day, Turner, a second-year performance acting major, has been on a transformative journey towards becoming a “lover of inclusion,” which manifested in her teens as a desire to be an ally for racialized people.

Originally, Turner kept her allyship to her private life; she bought tickets to see Kevin Hart on tour twice and gifted her sister a “Henna tattoo” kit last Christmas.

But it wasn’t until five months ago when Turner reposted an ad on her Instagram story for her local gym’s Zumba classes that she realized there was an entire potential platform for her activism that remained untapped.

“I’ve always loved Latin music. I actually prefer the original ‘Despacito’ without Justin Bieber,” she said. “Reposting that Zumba ad made me realize I could use my Instagram to uplift people of colour.”

Turner decided to embark on a “major rebrand” of her Instagram profile.

Her first step was to post a black square on June 2 in solidarity with #BlackOutTuesday, though she reduced the exposure to -1.7 and increased saturation to +12.0 so it would fit in with the rest of her feed’s theme. The edits made no discernible difference to the black square’s appearance.

She then posted a TikTok of herself doing the Renegade dance challenge with the caption: “guys, i’m so sad about what’s happening in Syria right now :( link in my bio to donate!” Turner did not verify the crowd-funding link she shared and found out two days later the donations were being used to fund an all-white remake of Crazy Rich Asians.

Kayla Turner was only eight years old when she took her first steps towards becoming an advocate for diversity.

“I told my dad to buy me a chihuahua instead of a golden lab for my birthday,” she said. Ever since that day, Turner, a second-year performance acting major, has been on a transformative journey towards becoming a “lover of inclusion,” which manifested in her teens as a desire to be an ally for racialized people.

Originally, Turner kept her allyship to her private life; she bought tickets to see Kevin Hart on tour twice and gifted her sister a “Henna tattoo” kit last Christmas.

But it wasn’t until five months ago when Turner reposted an ad on her Instagram story for her local gym’s Zumba classes that she realized there was an entire potential platform for her activism that remained untapped.

“I’ve always loved Latin music. I actually prefer the original ‘Despacito’ without Justin Bieber,” she said. “Reposting that Zumba ad made me realize I could use my Instagram to uplift people of colour.”

Turner decided to embark on a “major rebrand” of her Instagram profile.

Her first step was to post a black square on June 2 in solidarity with #BlackOutTuesday, though she reduced the exposure to -1.7 and increased saturation to +12.0 so it would fit in with the rest of her feed’s theme. The edits made no discernible difference to the black square’s appearance.

She then posted a TikTok of herself doing the Renegade dance challenge with the caption: “guys, i’m so sad about what’s happening in Syria right now :( link in my bio to donate!” Turner did not verify the crowd-funding link she shared and found out two days later the donations were being used to fund an all-white remake of Crazy Rich Asians.

“It was definitely disheartening but it taught me that it’s not enough just to share social issues affecting racialized people,” she said. “I had to become their voice.”

This realization prompted Turner to change her Instagram bio from a link to her VSCO profile to “I understand that I will never understand, but still I stand,” followed by a white fist bump emoji, a brown peace sign emoji, and several racially ambiguous prayer hands.

The August course enrolment period at Ryerson presented Turner with what she describes as her greatest idea yet. One course in particular caught her attention: Race and Ethnicity in Canada, taught by Amy Williams. Turner said she immediately recognized the course as a way to harvest content for “artsy Instagractivism slideshows.”

She had previously tried and failed to create an educational slideshow on racism. Her aim was to provide her interpretation of Black and brown people’s experiences with racism in Canada, however, Turner said she found it difficult to imagine a person of colour’s perspective as the closest relationship she has had with one was when she dated an Egyptian boy for an hour in Grade 3.

She decided to enroll in Race and Ethnicity in Canada for the fall semester, for the sole purpose of collecting enough information to fuel her Instagram content.

“It’s not technically academic misconduct if I add a paisley print border and change the font to Papyrus,” said Turner.

“It was definitely disheartening but it taught me that it’s not enough just to share social issues affecting racialized people,” she said. “I had to become their voice.”

This realization prompted Turner to change her Instagram bio from a link to her VSCO profile to “I understand that I will never understand, but still I stand,” followed by a white fist bump emoji, a brown peace sign emoji, and several racially ambiguous prayer hands.

The August course enrolment period at Ryerson presented Turner with what she describes as her greatest idea yet. One course in particular caught her attention: Race and Ethnicity in Canada, taught by Amy Williams. Turner said she immediately recognized the course as a way to harvest content for “artsy Instagractivism slideshows.”

She had previously tried and failed to create an educational slideshow on racism. Her aim was to provide her interpretation of Black and brown people’s experiences with racism in Canada, however, Turner said she found it difficult to imagine a person of colour’s perspective as the closest relationship she has had with one was when she dated an Egyptian boy for an hour in Grade 3.

She decided to enroll in Race and Ethnicity in Canada for the fall semester, for the sole purpose of collecting enough information to fuel her Instagram content.

“It’s not technically academic misconduct if I add a paisley print border and change the font to Papyrus,” said Turner.

In an email to The Eyeopener, Williams declined to comment directly on Turner but said her course is not intended for students “who spent $500 buying everything on Vogue magazine’s anti-racism reading list in June but have yet to read past a single book’s copyright page.”

Turner said she is used to such opposition towards her allyship endeavours.

“Being a white person in a non-white industry has definitely been a struggle—it’s been really hard not being taken seriously just because of the colour of my skin,” she said. “I would love for more people that look like me to be inspired by my work and know that nothing is stopping them from being a racial justice influencer.”

Turner has not yet attended any of the Zoom lectures for her race and ethnicity course as she’s been busy developing a name for her brand—which she describes as Goop meets How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi—and creating backgrounds for her activist slideshows on Canva.

“Why go to the class when the PowerPoints are posted anyways?” said Turner.

She also created a Pinterest board of artwork from Black and brown creators that she will “loosely adapt” to bring an “authentic ethnic vibe” to her posts.

By this time next year, Turner hopes to have increased her following enough to obtain a sponsorship deal with Fashion Nova and plans on using the money to fund a “mission trip to Africa.” When pressed on exactly where in the continent she hopes to go and what she intends to do, Turner attempted to change the subject by exclaiming that the reporter of this article looked just like Princess Jasmine. (Editor’s note: the reporter looks nothing like Princess Jasmine.)

Ultimately, despite the plagiarism accusations and academic misconduct penalties that will almost certainly come her way, Turner is committed to fulfilling her calling as an anti-racist influencer—a destiny she believes was written in the stars.

“I just feel an obligation to stand up for injustice. I literally cannot keep quiet,” she said. “I’m a total fire sign that way.”

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it to the end of the article. Full disclosure: none of what you just read is real. It was satire. Satire is a noun that describes the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people or institutions.

In an email to The Eyeopener, Williams declined to comment directly on Turner but said her course is not intended for students “who spent $500 buying everything on Vogue magazine’s anti-racism reading list in June but have yet to read past a single book’s copyright page.”

Turner said she is used to such opposition towards her allyship endeavours.

“Being a white person in a non-white industry has definitely been a struggle—it’s been really hard not being taken seriously just because of the colour of my skin,” she said. “I would love for more people that look like me to be inspired by my work and know that nothing is stopping them from being a racial justice influencer.”

Turner has not yet attended any of the Zoom lectures for her race and ethnicity course as she’s been busy developing a name for her brand—which she describes as Goop meets How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi—and creating backgrounds for her activist slideshows on Canva.

“Why go to the class when the PowerPoints are posted anyways?” said Turner.

She also created a Pinterest board of artwork from Black and brown creators that she will “loosely adapt” to bring an “authentic ethnic vibe” to her posts.

By this time next year, Turner hopes to have increased her following enough to obtain a sponsorship deal with Fashion Nova and plans on using the money to fund a “mission trip to Africa.” When pressed on exactly where in the continent she hopes to go and what she intends to do, Turner attempted to change the subject by exclaiming that the reporter of this article looked just like Princess Jasmine. (Editor’s note: the reporter looks nothing like Princess Jasmine.)

Ultimately, despite the plagiarism accusations and academic misconduct penalties that will almost certainly come her way, Turner is committed to fulfilling her calling as an anti-racist influencer—a destiny she believes was written in the stars.

“I just feel an obligation to stand up for injustice. I literally cannot keep quiet,” she said. “I’m a total fire sign that way.”

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it to the end of the article. Full disclosure: none of what you just read is real. It was satire. Satire is a noun that describes the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people or institutions.