I have so much to say on this subject that I've split it into two posts. The next one will come next Saturday (yep, got to keep you in suspense). The truth is that diversity is a hot topic today, and one by which the writing community has not gone untouched. In every story, in every movie, there is inevitably some character who is ethnically diverse, or, if not, the story or movie is labeled as "bigoted" or "racist".
I'm here to tell you that the issue of diversity in literature is a lot more complicated than the color of a character's skin.
I'm here to tell you that the issue of diversity in literature is a lot more complicated than the color of a character's skin.
See, for most beginning writers, the situation goes like this. They're happily writing along, and they decide to give their writing to an author who is a little more experienced than they are and ask for that author's opinion. The author takes it home, peruses it carefully for a little while then comes back with the inevitable reply:
"I like it, but where are the people of color?"
For the innocent new writer, this question has never entered his remotest consciousness and it takes him quite aback. How does he fix this terribly mistake? Well, just like every body else. He goes back, grabs a random character and slips in somewhere that the character is African-American (or Asian, or Hispanic, or what-have-you). That solves all the problems, right????
WRONG.
That would be like a white guy writing on a college application that he was a black. When he shows up to the college, they're going to say he's lying. And he will be. He's not black in any sense of the word. If he painted his face black, he still wouldn't be TRULY black.
Diversity is more than skin color or background; it is a culture, a whole world trapped inside a human being. And sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with race. In fact, in my opinion, the whole racist debate is baloney to a writer. If he is a well-rounded person in society and friends, he will automatically include ethnic, physical, political, and age-al (is that a word?) diversity in his writing.
But, all the critics must be satisfied with a conscious effort to add ethnic diversity to literature, and so we writers must bear with it. But why should we be concerned with diversity, and how do we apply it?
I'm going to start with all the wrong reasons, and wrong ways, then in the next post, I will write about the right reasons and the right ways.
Wrong reason #1: It's politically correct.
I know it's a popular reason, and it seems the most obvious, but to me, it is also the most shallow. Oh yeah, if I don't add a black person I won't sell enough copies of my book, so here's the obligatory African to meet my diversity quota.
No, no, no. Bad writer.
I get it if you're not excited about the diversity debate. Neither am I. But if you decide to add diversity to your story, you need a better reason than that. I'm not black, but if I were and I knew that was the only reason a character in a story was black, I would be offended. However, people seem to think that as long as they put in the right skin colors, they'll be okay, because that’s just what everybody wants.
Listen. People can smell fakeness. They know something’s not real.
So hang political correctness. Obviously, it's not good enough.
Wrong reason #2: We all share a bond of humanity, therefore we should reflect that in our writing.
This one actually sounds good at first read-through. You know, all the peace and love vibes radiating off of it. And I have to say that the motives are probably very good, however, the reasoning is incredibly faulty.
Honestly, I think it stems mostly from one particular phrase. I've heard it said a million times, and it's a popular phrase, but I, as an Asian-American, find it offensive. It's this:
THERE IS NO RACE.
And people usually go on to say "we all have to love each other because there's actually no difference between us." I find that offensive. Don't you? I'm not you, you're not me. I'm Asian, not black, and that's okay. But there IS a difference. I get what people are saying, but the solution is not to eliminate differences. The solution is to acknowledge the differences and be okay with it.
Now I do believe we're all in the same family, we all descended from Adam and Eve, and over the years, concentrated genes have produced different skin colors. However, we are MOST CERTAINLY different.
White people did not grow up in Africa. Asians did not become civilized in South America. Geography plays a huge part in who we are. I'm not going to act like a Pacific Islander would, nor would the Pacific Islander act like a European. They're going to think differently, they're going to behave differently, and their reflexes are going to be different. To say that I am the same as an Australian rancher is offensive to me. Nothing against Australian Ranchers, but that is not my identity. I AM different from you, and I'm glad of it. Difference -- diversity -- strengthens us. It is learning to reconcile our differences that makes us stronger, not pretending they don't exist.
So yes, we are all the same in some ways, but certainly not ethnically or culturally. And that's okay.
I'm moving on now to the wrong ways in which we employ diversity in literature, and yes, this is a long post, so I'll try to move quickly.
Wrong way #1: Randomly assign characters to skin colors.
I've touched on this already a little bit, so I'll try to keep it brief. The main reason this does not work is that we do not change the behaviour of the character to fit his ethnicity. However, the way we think and what we do is somewhat based in the culture in which we were raised and how our parents thought and communicated themselves to us. Thus, if a character is black, he or she is going to act differently than a white person would.
Wrong way #2: Make sure every single character has some sort of ethnic background and make sure that there is an even percentage of whites and blacks.
Okay, sometimes this works. Sort of. But not really. While your reader is reading, he doesn't want to constantly be stumbling on phrases like "His mom was Spanish." "Her grandparents had come over from Russia twenty years ago." and "He was African-American, with an Irish grandfather and several Chinese aunts."
I mean seriously. In America this is a little bit realistic, because this nation has so many immigrants and all. However, especially in a book where your readers actually have to read it and can't just take it in on sight, these kind of things are not important. You don't have to go into a long detail of the character's family tree. Your reader's going to get bored. And yes, your character may actually have all those different ethnicities in them (I am Ukrainian, Irish, German, Polish, Japanese, and pasty white American), but you don't have to say that. Reveal it in the way they behave and think.
And sometimes, it's just not realistic.
If you're writing a story about England in the late 1700s and you bump into a black person around every corner, that's not real. In that era, the only blacks you would see in England would be slaves. You're not going to have a wealthy black politician as one of your main characters, okay?
So make sure that if you DO add a lot of diversity, it's realistic.
Wrong way #3: Make as many allusions to your well-picked and VERY diverse cast as possible.
This is probably one that gets on my nerves the most.
Oh yeah, we've got a black female here, so let's talk about civil rights and male dominance as much as possible to show how diverse we are.
"I like it, but where are the people of color?"
For the innocent new writer, this question has never entered his remotest consciousness and it takes him quite aback. How does he fix this terribly mistake? Well, just like every body else. He goes back, grabs a random character and slips in somewhere that the character is African-American (or Asian, or Hispanic, or what-have-you). That solves all the problems, right????
WRONG.
That would be like a white guy writing on a college application that he was a black. When he shows up to the college, they're going to say he's lying. And he will be. He's not black in any sense of the word. If he painted his face black, he still wouldn't be TRULY black.
Diversity is more than skin color or background; it is a culture, a whole world trapped inside a human being. And sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with race. In fact, in my opinion, the whole racist debate is baloney to a writer. If he is a well-rounded person in society and friends, he will automatically include ethnic, physical, political, and age-al (is that a word?) diversity in his writing.
But, all the critics must be satisfied with a conscious effort to add ethnic diversity to literature, and so we writers must bear with it. But why should we be concerned with diversity, and how do we apply it?
I'm going to start with all the wrong reasons, and wrong ways, then in the next post, I will write about the right reasons and the right ways.
Wrong reason #1: It's politically correct.
I know it's a popular reason, and it seems the most obvious, but to me, it is also the most shallow. Oh yeah, if I don't add a black person I won't sell enough copies of my book, so here's the obligatory African to meet my diversity quota.
No, no, no. Bad writer.
I get it if you're not excited about the diversity debate. Neither am I. But if you decide to add diversity to your story, you need a better reason than that. I'm not black, but if I were and I knew that was the only reason a character in a story was black, I would be offended. However, people seem to think that as long as they put in the right skin colors, they'll be okay, because that’s just what everybody wants.
Listen. People can smell fakeness. They know something’s not real.
So hang political correctness. Obviously, it's not good enough.
Wrong reason #2: We all share a bond of humanity, therefore we should reflect that in our writing.
This one actually sounds good at first read-through. You know, all the peace and love vibes radiating off of it. And I have to say that the motives are probably very good, however, the reasoning is incredibly faulty.
Honestly, I think it stems mostly from one particular phrase. I've heard it said a million times, and it's a popular phrase, but I, as an Asian-American, find it offensive. It's this:
THERE IS NO RACE.
And people usually go on to say "we all have to love each other because there's actually no difference between us." I find that offensive. Don't you? I'm not you, you're not me. I'm Asian, not black, and that's okay. But there IS a difference. I get what people are saying, but the solution is not to eliminate differences. The solution is to acknowledge the differences and be okay with it.
Now I do believe we're all in the same family, we all descended from Adam and Eve, and over the years, concentrated genes have produced different skin colors. However, we are MOST CERTAINLY different.
White people did not grow up in Africa. Asians did not become civilized in South America. Geography plays a huge part in who we are. I'm not going to act like a Pacific Islander would, nor would the Pacific Islander act like a European. They're going to think differently, they're going to behave differently, and their reflexes are going to be different. To say that I am the same as an Australian rancher is offensive to me. Nothing against Australian Ranchers, but that is not my identity. I AM different from you, and I'm glad of it. Difference -- diversity -- strengthens us. It is learning to reconcile our differences that makes us stronger, not pretending they don't exist.
So yes, we are all the same in some ways, but certainly not ethnically or culturally. And that's okay.
I'm moving on now to the wrong ways in which we employ diversity in literature, and yes, this is a long post, so I'll try to move quickly.
Wrong way #1: Randomly assign characters to skin colors.
I've touched on this already a little bit, so I'll try to keep it brief. The main reason this does not work is that we do not change the behaviour of the character to fit his ethnicity. However, the way we think and what we do is somewhat based in the culture in which we were raised and how our parents thought and communicated themselves to us. Thus, if a character is black, he or she is going to act differently than a white person would.
Wrong way #2: Make sure every single character has some sort of ethnic background and make sure that there is an even percentage of whites and blacks.
Okay, sometimes this works. Sort of. But not really. While your reader is reading, he doesn't want to constantly be stumbling on phrases like "His mom was Spanish." "Her grandparents had come over from Russia twenty years ago." and "He was African-American, with an Irish grandfather and several Chinese aunts."
I mean seriously. In America this is a little bit realistic, because this nation has so many immigrants and all. However, especially in a book where your readers actually have to read it and can't just take it in on sight, these kind of things are not important. You don't have to go into a long detail of the character's family tree. Your reader's going to get bored. And yes, your character may actually have all those different ethnicities in them (I am Ukrainian, Irish, German, Polish, Japanese, and pasty white American), but you don't have to say that. Reveal it in the way they behave and think.
And sometimes, it's just not realistic.
If you're writing a story about England in the late 1700s and you bump into a black person around every corner, that's not real. In that era, the only blacks you would see in England would be slaves. You're not going to have a wealthy black politician as one of your main characters, okay?
So make sure that if you DO add a lot of diversity, it's realistic.
Wrong way #3: Make as many allusions to your well-picked and VERY diverse cast as possible.
This is probably one that gets on my nerves the most.
Oh yeah, we've got a black female here, so let's talk about civil rights and male dominance as much as possible to show how diverse we are.
BO-RING!
Wait a second, I have a hispanic male who's struggling to feed his family. Let's hit on his white employer as much as possible to show how friendly we are to foreign, poverty-stricken people.
Not that these things are particularly wrong in moderation. But you know, if I'm hearing about it every other line, I'm going to get sick of it. No one wants to hear a sermon on civil rights every few minutes.
Nor is anyone going to give you an A+ because your story met the requirements on diversity.
So peeps, let's keep this in mind:
Diversity starts with the soul and goes outward to the skin.
Skin should be your last subject when building a character of color.
Like this post? If so, leave a comment and let me know. Or mention some of your pet peeves when it comes to the diversity debate. Also, don't forget to come back next Saturday for the second part, in which I'll uncover the Right reasons and ways to put diversity in your writing.
Till then,
Gel
Wait a second, I have a hispanic male who's struggling to feed his family. Let's hit on his white employer as much as possible to show how friendly we are to foreign, poverty-stricken people.
Not that these things are particularly wrong in moderation. But you know, if I'm hearing about it every other line, I'm going to get sick of it. No one wants to hear a sermon on civil rights every few minutes.
Nor is anyone going to give you an A+ because your story met the requirements on diversity.
So peeps, let's keep this in mind:
Diversity starts with the soul and goes outward to the skin.
Skin should be your last subject when building a character of color.
Like this post? If so, leave a comment and let me know. Or mention some of your pet peeves when it comes to the diversity debate. Also, don't forget to come back next Saturday for the second part, in which I'll uncover the Right reasons and ways to put diversity in your writing.
Till then,
Gel