Meaning, not Color
January 10th, 2006 | Published in Writing | 8 Comments
Tobias Buckell on this from Pam Noles…
But I remember Dad saying, how come you never see anybody like that in the stories you like? And I remember answering, maybe they didn’t have black people back then. He said there’s always been black people. I said but black people can’t be wizards and space people and they can’t fight evil, so they can’t be in the story. When he didn’t say anything back I turned around. He was in full recline mode in his chair and he was very still, looking at me. He didn’t say anything else.
…and then me (not that anyone will find this):
So I nearly nothing in the way of a frame of reference for my thoughts of opinions on this. I have grown up nearly as middle-class white American as anybody that’s white and American could–as far as I know. My three basic exposures to actual (not TV or music) African-Americans are thus:
- My mother describes an incident from my unrecallable childhood in which I saw my first black person: “What’s wrong with him?” I ask. “Nothing, he’s just a different color than you,” Mom says. “OK”.
Later, Mom finds me running around with a friend in the trees behind their house. I guess it looked somewhat oragized into a predator-prey type activity so she asks, “What are you doing?”, “Oh, we’re playing ‘nigger’.” I don’t know if she had a reply at this point or if she was just incredulous and decided to let it slide and not take the time to have a teachable moment of some sort.
Finally, a few days later I run up to my mother as ask, “Where can I get a ‘nigger’ friend?” When she tells the story this is basically the crux and she stops there. Implicit in my mind and hers is the innocent lack of concern for color but the ignorance of language.
- For a brief time in the third grade of the Catholic school I went to in Kansas (from what I hear not the same as Catholic school back east) there was a girl named Rochelle Ramsey that I was good friends with the left as mysteriously as she arrived. Maybe her family couldn’t afford the tuition–mine couldn’t 3 years later–maybe ‘the powers that be’ encourage the only family of color that school had ever seen to find a better place to integrate. All I knew was that my friend was gone.
- Then a gap of decades until you find this author riding around in a low slung small-sized pickup with hip-hop playing so loud that the speakers in the bed are making the side mirror shiver–objects in mirror may be less blurry than they appear. Dan was from San Antonio, a former defensive lineman for a university around here. I think he took it on himself to reaquaint this white-boy with as much reality mixed with stereotype as possble. Other than a lost friend who’s humour was the only thing bigger than his waist that I have from that was that “niggas love orange soda”–I just don’t recall which brand.
So one thing come out of all that: where in all my experience am I supposed to reliably concoct a speculative fiction story that involves people of other (real) races?
Oh sure, you hear folks bather about doing research for a book, but I seriously doubt that they intend for one to ‘go live among the black people and learn their ways’. If I chose to write a story containing a more multicultural cast I would be at best able to call someone black at the onset, maybe a remark about brown eyes or crinkly hair and then I would be done. Every word out of his (sexist post later) mouth would be either as white as I don’t know how not to be or ridiculously contrived. I don’t (can’t) do this for the same reason I don’t write legal thrillers or romance or business books: I know nothing about the true subject.
I submit this is one of the underlying motives of authors for creating new races. We can invent elves and dwarves and the like and say they like fried chicken and watermelon without coming off as totally inept asses.
Though none of this matters a whit to me when I am writing or more likely when I am reading. I read the first Earthsea book for the first time about a year ago. It was nice and short, but other than a guy on a boat and some fog it didn’t really stand out as earthshatteringly evocative–not something I would read again. Also, I didn’t really notice he was not white. I suppose it’s mentioned in the first chapter or so, but that means nothing to me. I don’t recall his eye color, height, or sexual preference either.
When I read a book, nearly all that matters is the dialogue and action. What one character says to another; what one character does with another. You know why? Because after all the description of a character is laid down at the first meeting all that the author gives me is what he says and what he does. Now I will grant that culture and language are indelible, but once I have read (or heard) the line “I ain’t saying she’s no goldigger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke nigger” it gets put in my brain as meaning not color.
January 10th, 2006 at 11:21 pm (#)
Douglas, thanks for your comments, I’ll try and respond later this week.
-Tobias
January 13th, 2006 at 8:45 am (#)
And Tobias does indeed reply.
January 13th, 2006 at 5:54 pm (#)
Douglas, thanks for putting that out there. From my perspective, it is a familiar set of arguments from white writers, but it’s good to lay it out and begin the discussion. I might write something to the whole issue on my blog later, or I might not. A couple of things I would like to say; you ask: “where in all my experience am I supposed to reliably concoct a speculative fiction story that involves people of other (real) races?” And yet, you’ve just given us three powerful examples from your own experience. Whether or not you put human people of colour in your stories, if you ever find yourself writing about how systemic oppression plays out in individual lives, you don’t have to do so from the point of view of someone from the disadvantaged group; that kind of oppression affects everyone in the system, even the people not targeted by it.
You also say, “I seriously doubt that they intend for one to ‘go live among the black people and learn their ways’.” Yet, by your own description, you already do live among black people. Perhaps you don’t live smack dab in the middle of a black neighbourhood, but it appears that you’ve had black people in your life at one time or another.
January 13th, 2006 at 9:58 pm (#)
Here is what has come to mind throughout the day in the way of a follow up…
It’s important that I distinguish between what I think the responsibilities of a writer are and what those of a human being are.
As a human being I feel it’s important to be tolerant and accepting of other cultures or even find a way to make culture transparent. I believe I do this as a reader and person. The tale end of my post declares this rather awkwardly when I say that to me Ged was colorfree, tonefree…whatever; he was a voice in my head not an actor in my vision. I will say it again, maybe it’s different for others, but I don’t see movies when I read, I develop experiences of action and dialogue.
As a writer I do certainly believe in research and worldbuilding and all that effort–it’s one of the reasons you’re not going to see me in print, my day job is much easier and better paying from what I hear. Satisfying? …well, there are trade offs.
I am going to leave Tobias’ gauntlet on the ground a little longer to delve into Nalo’s comment about my three experiences. To me those are simple human experiences, only involving color as a footnote except for one small part at the end: the orange soda. That’s the crux of my thinking: I know there is a secret handshake, I just don’t know what that handshake is.
Yes, I know it’s not a secret and I know it’s not a handshake. I don’t feel like I have had experiences worth translating the condition of systemic oppression nor have I had experiences that would allow me to put words into Denzel’s mouth in “The Rookie”. That feeling is where my writerly confidence would stem from–from which it would stem.
This is where my organized thoughts go all to hell and my words start feeling more like a cat with a hairball than a cat with…out a hairball.
Let me try going back to Tobias (whose stupendous reply leaves me happy to be in a discussion on the net and not a flame war). At one point he substitutes various other potential characters into my ‘go live among the black people’ comment. Fair enough, it hits the mark, I buy into the swap and I am inspired to considered that I had overlooked something. That isn’t really my best way to make my point. And this is–it’s also the part I predict will anger the most people (though that is NOT my intention)–I am just not interested in race as a storyline. The very same way I am not interested in writing legal thrillers, romances, or business books. And my lack of interest translates into not knowing and not knowing is just ignorance and now were back to the need for research.
I am not advocating that I should (will) avoid learning or that anyone should, but I have plenty of things to enrich my life at the moment and multiculturalism just isn’t one of them. Would I write a main character of color? Sure. Will I be writing the sequel to “The Color Purple”? Nope.
Tobias wants me to dig deeper. I just don’t think I am the proper vector for this kind of work.
I thought I’d be able to work this link of Tobias’ into my blather, but couldn’t. If you haven’t already read Nisi Shawl’s more illuminating thoughts, you should. For what it’s worth, I thought Spock was the odd man out and Uhura was eye-candy.
January 29th, 2006 at 8:57 am (#)
I realize this is probably a closed issue - I’m finding all of this a little late. But
I think there is one point that you are missing. Realism in writing. Even spec fic / fantasy / sci fi needs realism.
Certainly if an author writes a story set in 1950s Ohio, all characters probably should be white. But if he or she writes a story set in 1950s New York City, or any other large city at virtually any date, the writes loses realism by not including different races. The writer actually risks alienating any reader who’s been to the place by not including race.
Said my blond-haired, blue-eyed friend, visiting me at our old high school after a year living in San Francisco: This is so _weird_. Everybody’s white!
January 29th, 2006 at 9:27 am (#)
Jessi,
I had a different experience when I visted a bigger leather-clad HS buddy in San Francisco and we went out to get some food at the store. It went something like this:
Me: So all these guys aren’t just roommates.
Him: Probably not.
(beat)
Me: And they probably don’t think we are either.
Him: No
(beat)
Me: And I’m….
Him: My bitch? Yeah.
—————-
As for the racial diversity, I think that the point others have made and I am resistant to is that you should consider creating a world of color.
Sure 50’s Ohio is likely to be fraught with paleness and NY not so much. But in a created world of SFF the author makes those choices. Tobias, Pam, and I suppose Nalo as well are advocating the need and appropriateness of including a more realistic variety of characters.
I don’t argue that either of those actions is incorrect or overtly bussing kids around the city to integrate. I just shy away from my skills at doing so.
It had occured to me that if I were to better reflect my experiences, that I might need to include more brown folk than black. And speaking of which, wasn’t Dr. Chandra–a character in one of the most popular SciFi sequals Indian?
January 31st, 2006 at 7:18 pm (#)
[...] couple of dissenting voices, but there is something deeply telling in those slim voices of white angst: am just not interest [...]
April 30th, 2006 at 9:49 pm (#)
I’m way late to this discussion. I think Nalo, Pam, and Tobias pretty much said what I would have said. BTW, have you read any of James Patterson’s Alex Cross thrillers? They’re great. Patterson, who is Caucasian, does a great job of creating an intelligent, sexual (as opposed to de-sexed, asexual) African-American detective with a Ph.d in psychology.
There’s so much material and people available to writers today to gain insight into how different people think and perceive the world. How does a Muslim who grew up in a wealthy cosmopolitan family in Iran pre-Revolution think? Probably a lot differently than an African Muslim in Darfur today as does a Muslim Chinese person in the outer areas of China.