Maybe I'll write an article on this later but this is just some random thought that I decided to write down. It's sort of a problem I've seen a lot on mibba and honestly in the whole online writing scene since I was like 14.
When I first started writing stories. like in elementary and middle school, most of my characters looked like me. Which is brown. Then I discovered Quizilla and somewhere along that line my stories started having nothing but white characters. I guess that's because I wanted to write what I thought people would read. And lets be honest, the only popular stories on Quizilla then were "~~Help MY Badass Emo boyfriend is a Jerk WTF!!~~"
Anyway, what I didn't realize is that I deep down didn't actually believe that A character that looked like me could be the main character in a story I found interesting. Why? Because I had never seen it before. Brown characters were always the bad guys or the side characters or the best friends OR Just plain not thought of at all.
Nothing freaks me out more now than watching a movie with an all white cast. I guess if you're white you don't see how actually weird it is. America is a melting pot of all different people with different races and ethnicity so why would anyone ever think it's okay to completely forget about people of color. Especially when the movies take place in big cities like New York or Chicago.
In book, it's a little different. A lot of authors don't specify what race they're characters are. And if you try to criticize them for having no POC characters, then they may just fire back with a "This particular character was a POC but I didn't specify it because I didn't think it was important.
But here's the thing. It is important! Because if you're anything like me, you might have realized when you read a book and the character's skin color isn't specified, then they're white. Because white is the default color. Because once not to long ago it was taught that white is the right color and whoever wasn't was lesser of a person. These things are no longer taught BUT this tiny internalized racism still goes on plenty today. This being on a small part of it.
When I was writing all of my white characters I was thinking "These girls are prettier than girls who look like me. They're more interesting than girls who look like me." How sad is that? That I was actually believing that people were better than me because of my skin color. But that was what I was taught.
Little POC boys and girls are being taught that White is the right color because that's all you can think of when you never seen any people who look like you in the limelight. It's not happening on purpose, no one is coming out and saying "hey you can never be a cool superhero because you're not white like superman." but it is being inferred. And that why representation is so important. White is not the default color or the right color. We all deserve to feel right, don't you agree?
Walk into a library in a book store and you'll notice nothing but white faces on the covers of YA books. I say YA because they are the only books I find interesting. If I wanted to read something about someone who looks like me, I would have to go to the "African American" Section???? Which is basically badly written fics for old and horny single women who want a love story and it perpetuates stereotypes and I'm not amused.
Now to the problem on Mibba. I know what a lot of you are thinking.
"Well all of my characters are white but not because I don't like POC characters, this is just how my characters look."
Personally, I imagine my characters. Sometimes they're white and sometimes they're not. But recently a lot of them haven't been white. Just because I already have so many. It can't hurt to just slip in a POC character somewhere. Don't get whitewashed by the entire entertainment world. Even if they're just a side character (even thought it would be better if they were main)
"I want to write POC characters but I don't think I have enough experience or knowledge"
RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. I had this exact same problem. DO not! I repeat do not perpetuate stereotypes in your story. And also don't forget that they are still your characters!!! You have total control over them. You can make them however you want. Heck write an Asian with a country accent if you want.
"Yeah this sucks but....It's not my duty to write POC characters. I don't HAVE to."
That's true. You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. But if you don't who will? I had this same outlook. It's not my fault POC people have poor representation in the media. But if I didn't start changing my ways, then who will? Be the change you want to see, says Buddha.
Now this is not me telling you that all of your stories suck because they have nothing but white characters. I'm not telling you to go change them. There is nothing wrong with white character. But there is also nothing wrong with POC characters either.
I just think stories with a variety of characters or interracial love, ect, are much more interesting to read than your average cookie cutter love story. Also it helps five your character depth. This is just giving you something to think about the next time you think up a story. Us brown people need love too :)
(im really tired and i tried to fix most errors but im sure i missed some sorry i must sleep now)
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