“You Guys” Is an Act of Exclusion

It’s on all of us to harness the power of language and create belonging with our words.

Sixteen years ago, I spent two back-to-back semesters studying Shakespeare at A&M. Some of the plays were incomplete, a bit of fill-in-the-blank, due to time rubbing away certain words. For weeks, we read King Richard III one way and then another, all based on one word — busky. One word can change the meaning. In college, I found it fascinating; with one word, my entire intent could fall apart.