I want to share this with everyone because I think it’s one of those things that should be embraced and talked about at length.
We have a lot of problems in this world – seeing other human beings who are different than us as somehow less human is a big ugly one. Whether we’re talking about race or gender, religious choices or sexual choices, we have a major problem with accepting people for who they are.
When Hunger Games went up and Cinna and Rue were cast as being black, a lot of discussion happened because of it. Good discussion, bad discussion, maybe some surprising insights for some people into how they view the world.
Now it looks like Finnick may be cast with a black actor and all the same confusion and disbelief and discussion is building again. It’s not an easy topic for a lot of people to talk about – but I am a big believer that talking about it is the only way to take its ugly power away. We are a beautiful crayola box world and I long for a world where you are who you are and there aren’t restrictions on caring about things based on color, sex, gender, body type, or ethnicity.
We should be able to turn to someone who is not like ourselves and say, hey, I have questions. Is it ok if I sound stupid for a minute and just ask them? I don’t have any black friends and I’m confused about some things. I don’t know any one who is Asian, who can I talk to if I don’t understand something? I need to know more about girls. Boys seem really weird to me, why do they act like this? I think we need to get to a point in the world where we can do this. Just talk.
I also hope more authors keep talking about this topic – about writing characters not like us and reading about characters not like us and how a book with a black character doesn’t have to be a story about a character not being white. I think it’s the dialogue that will get us to a new place in our society. Not talking about it is why we have to have a Tumblr called HungerGameTweets specifically designed to highlight the non-discussion we haven’t had so we can start having the ones that need to happen now.
And clearly this topic is too big for one post, so I hope to revisit it again and again and again. Until we don’t need to anymore.
Tips on Writing Race from a Teen Writer
Kate Hart dissects the 2011 YA covers with gender and race in mind
Why The Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End
The Ongoing Problem of Race in Y.A.
A Complete Guide to ‘Hipster Racism’
The Whitewashing of YA Literature
Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is
Queer Women and (In)visibility
Cover Your Dreams in More Dreams
Race in YA Lit: Wake Up & Smell the Coffee-Colored Skin, White Authors!
Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes in YA Fiction, Part 1: Major LGBTQ Stereotypes
I have numbers! Stats on LGBT Young Adult Books Published in the U.S. – Updated 9/15/11
Supporting character whitewashed in film adaptation of “Warm Bodies”
Talking to Teens Who Tweeted Racist Things About The Hunger Games
Sommer
My name is Sommer and I'm a writer from the Midwest. I am currently working on a YA novel about superheroes, reading as much as I can, blogging, and saving the world.
[...] week I wrote a short post with a call to action for everyone to continue talking about race because that’s the only way [...]
This is a great topic, Sommer, and one that I get to follow with an outsider’s eyes, because our political and historical baggage is different here in Australia. Of course the solution is the same: look at a person and see a person instead of a race, and whatever bullshit stereotypes we’ve been taught to attach to something as ultimately meaningless as skin colour and ancestry. I used to think that racism was something we were slowly growing out of, the same as other types of ignorance like homophobia, but I’m worried that we’re not. The casual spewing of ignorant opinions on Twitter makes me cringe: hell, at least people used to be ashamed of racism! Now they put a smiley face after it and it’s supposed to be okay?
When it comes to the Hunger Games Tweets, I’m with Caitlin about Finnick – “bronzed” can mean anything. And how was the actress who played Rue not perfect for the part?
Also, the Willy Wonka picture at the Hunger Games Tweets link is all kinds of awesome.
Sommer, this is such an interesting post. Thank you, especially, for the links. I’ve clicked through some of them and hope to get to the rest over the weekend.
I would love to write more diversity into my stories. I just don’t know how to do it without it looking like I just wrote a scene with the “Token Minority”. And truth be told, I’m SO afraid of being judged that I struggle to even comment here, lest someone takes offense and I fall all over myself apologizing before people assume I’m filled with hate. I’m so sensitive about the subject that I tend to avoid it in my writing, which I think sucks because then racism wins.
Thanks for posting all of the links Sommer. I spent some time clicking on them, and sent the Straight White Male is the Lowest Difficulty Setting one to all of my work colleagues. I agree with everything that author said (seeing as I’m a gay male I can attest first hand at the fact that life is easier for the guys who are straight). It’s literally paved for them.
Just a few examples: I can’t marry in the state I live in, if I want a child, I’ll have to pay almost fifty thousand dollars for the surrogate, all the healthcare for the surrogate, etc., and I’ll have to fly to California to have that arranged. Straight people don’t have to do this.
I’m also with you on diversity representation both on covers and contextually. I personally think that there is a link between YA and religion and the proportion lack of other races in literature. I know of no Mormon authors (as an example) who would ever write with any kind of black protagonist. Most of my co-workers are LDS and have real issues with people that are not Caucasian. I hear it in the office banter around the water cooler so to speak, but they would never own up to their hidden racism.
Wow. Good on you, Sommer. Bravo for bringing this up, for what you said, and your links.
We have to talk about this. Part of the reason it’s so pervasive is because people are reluctant to discuss it, whether it’s because they’re afraid of offending or believe it really doesn’t matter anymore because our collective race issues are resolved in this so-called “post-racial’ world.
I catch heat for writing characters with very few racial markers. One reader told me that they couldn’t identify with a main character because they didn’t know what she looked like. I had described her as having dark hair and brown eyes, but in their opinion that wasn’t enough because the character could not be racially or ethnically categorized. So there’s no empathy until you can check off the appropriate census box? I guess it’s either that or have my characters be “white until proven otherwise”: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/03/hunger-games-and-trayvon-martin.html
There is also the assumption that since I’m black, all of my characters must be as well. Or if I do write a black character, they have to “represent” the race positively and/or their race has to be central to the story.
And don’t get me started on how black authors (and by default, those who read their work) are segregated in bookstores and libraries: http://nkjemisin.com/2010/05/dont-put-my-book-in-the-african-american-section/
So please, let’s keep talking about this. Let’s keep asking questions, expressing our fears, and challenging ourselves until we get it right.
It’s too bad our culture has become so charged with Political Correctness. This PC obsession, to me, discourages real discourse about these issues. People want to pretend that everything is OK in literature; that “well, most authors are white, so that is why most books are about white people. Can’t do anything about that.” We NEED to talk about it. We SHOULD talk about it, talk about what to do to make changes. And no one should have to feel bad for opening up the discussion, which is what I see happening a lot lately (and in a lot of the comment sections of the posts you linked to).
I am going to go talk about it, right now. Thanks, Sommer!
It’s weird, but the majority of the characters in my stories have been of Asian descent. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but that’s how it turned out.
The thing about the Finnick casting that bothers me (not the choice, but people’s reactions) is that it really never states his skin color, other than he is ‘bronzed’ which could mean SO MANY things. It could mean a tan white guy, a Latino, a lighter toned African American, a Native American, a Middle Easterner, or a East Asian. I admit, I pictured him as white only because his name is Irish. However, HOWEVER, there are many black Irish. So, really, Finnick could be any race.
Great post! Very well written. Bravo, good lady
Race in YA, particularly genre YA like fantasy, sci-fi and the like, has been a touchy subject. For one, much of what is written happens to be based upon quite a bit of the same mythologies like Norse and Celtic. Those mythologies don’t exactly conjure up a boatload of people of different ethnic backgrounds. Slowly but surely, this is being addressed on a microscopic level as authors introduce more characters with appearances that don’t fit the “fair skinned, blonde maiden or lad” description. Characters are tanned, bronzed, bear a copper complexion. They make me hungry with smooth vanilla or a deep mocha skin tone that one could hold on to forever. No longer just black or white.
I haven’t read this story with Finnick in it (ducking now in case I’m seriously behind the times and don’t want to get knocked in the head with a book). I must admit, I am not big on casting a person that is so completely the opposite of what the description is that it’s hard seeing the actor/actress pull off the gig well. For those where the character hasn’t been described in detail, I’m open to whoever the heck they cast.
One example of a race-differing cast that seemed to be handled well was for the movie I am Legend. Many of us in the younger generation were not aware of the original movie The Omega Man. The original movie was cast with a white male in the lead. Though I am Legend was done based on the same story, they changed up the title, modernized things and tried to give the movie more of a reboot feel instead of an exact remake feel.
Briefly touching on the HG tweets, it wasn’t the tweets that questioned the casting of black actors and actresses for Rue, Thresh and Cinna that bothered me so much. I shook my head wondering if I read the same book as the people who questioned it (okay, shame on me but Lenny Kravitz being cast as Cinna worked for me as a Lenny fan lol!!!). It was the tweets where suddenly, Rue was ugly or her death didn’t matter any more now that she was being cast with a black actress. THAT’s the kind of stuff that makes me ponder the state of humanity as a whole.