Monday musings on systemic racism
By Scott Bury
Historical, systemic and persistent racism is the leading concern of the day. Black Lives Matter continues to make headlines and dominate conversations.
Canada has been rocked over the past few weeks by revelations of a thousand unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools. Indigenous children who died away from their families, under the supposed care of the Catholic Church that was trying to destroy their culture.
This speaks to a truth that most people do not want to acknowledge: that racism is deeply embedded into the history and culture of North America, and indeed, Western civilization.
It’s something that most people say they’re opposed to, that most people will say they want to correct.
But it’s been a major topic my whole life. You would think that, if we were truly concerned about a problem, that 60 years would be plenty of time to make progress.
A lot more than I can see.
What can we do about it? There are protests, there’s activism. There’s the vague and controversial idea about being an “ally.”
Writers are not innocent
One thing I have noticed about most English-language fiction is its whiteness. And not just whiteness, a preponderance of northern-European characters.
Crack open most any novel at your bookstore or library. Even on your own bookshelf at home, and notice the names of the protagonists. Then think about the people you know in your neighborhood, or your workplace. I’ll bet you the real cast of your life is a lot more diverse ethnically than that of your favorite novels.
Where I live, in Canada’s capital, walking a downtown street, or riding transit (we’re talking the Before Time here), I see diversity in people: Black, brown, Asian, South Asian and Indigenous people. Every day.
Toronto has a reputation as being the most ethnically diverse city in the world. That mixture of cultures has created an enviable richness. But it’s a diversity that is largely absent from literature.
Films and TV have been making the effort for years to be more “inclusive” and “diverse.” We may suspect their motivations (being “politically correct,” whatever that means), but at least audiences can see casts that are becoming more like the crowds that used to be on city streets in the Before Time.
But books…not so much. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a big deal when a book about “ethnic”—non-white, that is—people becomes a bestseller. Like A Silent Prayer, Seven Fallen Feathers, Son of a Trickster, or The Water Dancer, for example. It’s unusual. Or more clearly, it’s far less usual than it should be.
Let’s face it, most of the books that get read in the English-reading world are pretty white. And it’s even narrower than that: Greek, Italian, or Portuguese names are surprising when they appear as characters in fiction. And fictional Russians are generally criminals.
Less than a baby step
Is it because authors are lazy, and choose names similar to their own? That would mean there is a strong ethnic advantage for some groups to become published authors. Which, if you do just a cursory scan of authors’ names, you will probably see.
Personally, I have always tried to include diverse characters in my writing. In my historical fantasies, I reached across the Roman Empire and beyond for characters. In my mysteries, I made an effort to use names that reflect as broad a range of ethnicities and national origins as I found in my own life.
One way I do this is by giving characters the names of people I know. Most of the time, the real people are delighted to see their own names on my pages.
There are some other authors who write about characters from backgrounds rare in fiction, but not many.
But this brings us to another challenge: cultural appropriation.
Writing about characters from a marginalized, racialized community can leave you open to charges of cultural appropriation. Or, worse, to misrepresentation. Something I am wary of.
You’ve heard about “sensitivity readers,” basically people who will read a finished manuscript to identify anything that might be stereotypical, inauthentic or offensive.
I’ve decided to be proactive. My work-in-progress involves people from Indigenous or Native American communities, and Black communities, in the near future. So I am turning to those communities for input as I’m writing.
Will this change the world? Will this right the wrongs done to communities, to people? Will this make up for the centuries of oppression?
Not a chance.
It’s not even a baby step. But it’s something I, as a novelist, can do.
Scott Bury
is an author and editor based in Ottawa, Canada, and a long-time member of BestSelling Reads.
Visit his:
- BestSelling Reads author page
- Amazon Author page
- website and blog
- And visit him on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.