Should whites write people of color?

A posting reprinted on Racialicious discusses the issue of writing characters of color. Here are some key points from the original posting by Neesha Meminger. She's the author of Shine, Coconut Moon and a Canadian of Asian Indian extraction.This essay was originally meant to be a short comment in response to Justine’s post on why her protags aren’t white. In one of the comments, someone brought up the old argument: if white people can only write white characters, then should people of color only write characters of color? Here is my response . . .

It’s a question of power and privilege. Most white people grow up thinking they have free range in everything from the political to the personal. People of color in Europe, Australia, and North America (and women everywhere), do not grow up learning these things. We learn to BE colonized. We learn, through history lessons from our colonizer’s textbooks, that we are not the invadERS, we are the invadED.

 People of color know more about white people than we know about ourselves and one other because everything we are taught in the schools is by and about white people. Everything we see on television is by and about white people. Everything in magazines, on film, in books and on book covers is created by and about white people. Writers of color in the west almost always have white people in our books because that is what we know; it’s what is all around us.So far, I think Meminger's posting has a lot of validity. But I'm not sure her key point follows:White folks, in general, need to turn *outward* and really see what’s outside of themselves and their immediate circles. And people of color must turn *inward*, to discover the true value within, then paint the world with it. 

This is how healing happens in any relationship where there is an abuse of power. Whether that relationship is parent-child, employer-employee, or whole groups, the resolution isn’t that both parties do exactly the same thing to make amends. Both parties haven’t been giving the same thing and getting the same thing all along, so they have to get and give differently in order to mend.

 This is why the whole idea of “if white people can only write white people, then PoC should only write PoC” simply does not hold water. It is DIFFERENT. It has been different all along. So the change—true, lasting change—has to be each party doing what THEY need to do to make that change happen for real. For the privileged, it means sharing privilege. For the non-privileged, it means valuing oneself enough to stand up, focus on their own self and say, “I am important. I deserve more. I will not put up with this any longer.”Comment:  A few responses to the claims in this essay:People of color know more about white people than we know about ourselves and one other because everything we are taught in the schools is by and about white people.The logical consequence of this is that everyone should write about white people no one should write about minorities. If both whites and minorities know whites better than minorities, where's the evidence that only minorities can know minorities? Because it doesn't follow from this argument.White folks, in general, need to turn *outward* and really see what’s outside of themselves and their immediate circles.That's what white people like me are doing by writing and blogging about people of color. We're learning about other people and sharing our knowledge with everyone.

I don't see how Meminger's conclusion follows from the statement above. White people need to turn outward...so they should continue writing only about the subjects they're familiar with and nothing else. Huh?

Making a political choiceI create worlds in my books where people of color and women are at the center—not at the margins where we are habitually cast in the everyday world. This is a conscious decision. It is a political choice.Oddly, that's what I was thinking when I, as a WASP, wrote a comic book starring two Native American heroes. So far no one has accused me of imposing a white-centric worldview on my Native characters.So the change—true, lasting change—has to be each party doing what THEY need to do to make that change happen for real. For the privileged, it means sharing privilege.I can agree with this. When I published my Native-themed comic books, I wasn't thinking, "Buy my comics instead of real Native comics." I was thinking, "A good Native-themed comic will open people's eyes. If done right, it'll increase the market for other Native-themed comics.

"In fact, if my comic is successful, I can hire Native writers and artists to produce more of my comics. Or help them produce and publish their comics."

I'm sure someone could dispute my counterargument...but Meminger hasn't done it. Her presumption is that white authors who write about people of color are co-opting minority authors. That may be true in some cases, but it isn't in others.

For more on the subject, see Rob the Presumptuous White Man?

Below:  White- and Native-made comics about Natives.