Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-25184427-20140722165407/@comment-26879545-20160419132023

A token person is someone that's only role in anything (show, movies, books, etc.) is to be there for "diversity" purposes.

For example, let's say there's a show with a predominantly white cast. In that show, they might have a token black person, whose only role is to be shown as "hey, we have black people in this show, too!" They usually contribute nothing to the plot/show. They're not a main character, so they show up periodically during the shows run; and when they do show up, they usually act like a stereotype.

Mostly they're there so that the show can get away with showing a specific cast of people while avoiding anti-discrimination/racism policies.