Yes We Need Diverse Books. But that doesn’t always mean that we want YOU to write them. No, it means we want you to support them. We want you to read them. We want you to promote them, talk about them, buy them, love them. We want you to recognize that these stories told by authors in their own voices has as much importance as all the white ones that are published year after year.
I’m going to keep saying this over and over again. Diversity is not a new hot trend for you all to jump on and write about because you think it will help you get published. That’s not what this is about. White writers can write about whatever they want, they have that luxury. Whether or not they do it well is of course subject to debate. White writers don’t have to worry about writing main characters that are white and being told “Oh we have a white story already so we have to pass.” There is no arbitrary quota of stories for you all. We get 1 maybe 2 books allocated to Asian stories - so when it is taken by a white author writing about Asian stories - guess what happens to the Asian writer trying to write their own stories. And while you are guessing, go and read this fabulous post by Claire Light.
In this increasingly important post by my favorite author, Jacqueline Woodson, she says, “As publishers (finally!) scurry to be a part of the move to represent the myriad cultures once absent from mainstream literature, it is not without some skepticism that I peruse the masses of books written about people of color by white people. As a black person, it is easy to tell who has and who has not been inside “my house.” Some say there is a move by people of color to keep whites from writing about us, but this isn’t true. This movement isn’t about white people, it’s about people of color. We want the chance to tell our own stories, to tell them honestly and openly. We don’t want publishers to say, “Well, we already published a book about that,” and then find that it was a book that did not speak the truth about us but rather told someone on the outside’s idea of who we are.”
I think every person of color will agree that we can tell who has “Not been inside our house” when they try to write our experiences. As the number of Asian culture, mythology, character, orientalist-themed books by non-Asian writers rises, I am more and more aghast at the lack of support for Asian authors. Just what about Asian culture makes it so appealing for cultural appropriation? Why must it continually be used to exoticize and other our people? Having just seen a review request for a book that looks like an exotic female Asian fetish fantasy wet dream, I’m feeling disturbed and anguished. Seeing starred reviews for a recent YA book with a Chinese character that is praised as feminist because she scars herself to avoid becoming a concubine is troubling because it is given solely through the white lens. A white perspective with no Asian nuances. And why is that the story that must be told?
Aren’t there enough stories from the white perspective already? Must you tell our stories through your lens too?
So here’s the truth that needs to be repeated again and again. Don’t write a POC’s story unless you need to tell it with such a burning desire that it will eat you alive and so you will come into our houses and walk in our shoes to get it right, and that way it isn’t written ONLY from a white lens. Don’t do it unless you are willing to invest in a whole lot of time and commitment and get into some heavy conversation about what it is like to live our lives, deal with racism and micro-aggressions and fear and hate. Don’t do it because you think it is a hot trend. Don’t do it because you think it will help you get published. Don’t do it because you just love Kpop and Kdramas and oh wouldn’t it be cool to bring it to an American audience? Don’t do it because your mama is 1/32nd Native American and somehow that gives you a pass to write about the culture (it doesn’t). Don’t do it because it is exotic, mystical, spiritual, etc. Don’t do it because “you believe in diversity and want to help the cause.” Don’t do it because you think you are helping us. Because you’re not. The truth is, you’re only doing it for yourself. Because you think it is going to help you get published.
So do us all a favor.
Don’t.
