The Plight of Black Writers
The year of 2020 has been polarizing in the advocacy of black people in America. A shadow of political unrest looms over the country. The echoes of the protests have reached the ears of the masses. If the chants of the marches haven’t reached the justice system yet, then it definitely has for the marketing firms of businesses. These companies have been cashing in on the movement with a variety of participators. From Etsy seller listings of Black Lives Matter themed Naruto headbands, to the NBA Jerseys of victims of police brutality. Merchandise isn’t the only thing being pushed by the movement, but there is a renewed interest in black culture and arts.
Have you walked into a Barnes and Nobles lately? Never in my life have I seen so many books, front and center about the black experience. Hollywood execs are also adhering to the call with the casting of actors of color portraying traditionally white characters. The speculator market of comic books has also chimed in. Key first appearances of black characters such as Static Shock, Blue Marvel, Shuri, Monica Rambeau and more have increased astronomically in value.
Black art used to be shoved into the closet, but now is demanding decorative space in the living room. Whether you want to call this a “black renaissance” or not, it is increasingly difficult to deny that “black” is trending right now. With the world’s spotlight on America and a new surge of interest in black art, some questions must be asked in this time of the hour.
Do black writers bear the responsibility to write “conscience” material? Despite the backlash that my answer might receive, I’m going to say no. No one should be limited to what they can write based solely on their identity and life experiences. Just because you are a minority doesn’t mean you’re obligated to create “woke” material. A black person as the main character of a romping space sci-fi adventure shouldn’t exactly equal “Racism in Space”. In the same vein I’d like to imagine female writers shouldn’t feel the pressure to center their stories and characters on feminism.
Christopher Priest is among the all-time greats as a writer in the comic book industry. Falcon, Black Panther, Deathstroke, and Vampirella are just a few of the characters that he’s written, but at one point in time, he didn’t have such a diverse catalogue. In the past he was only offered to write black characters.
“So I got a call from DC, and they wanted to talk to me about Cyborg. I gave them the standard stump speech. I don’t want to be a “black writer.” When did I become a black writer? I used to be a guy who would write Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Batman. Why am I no longer qualified to write those characters?”-Priest
Pigeonholin great writers is a very possible standard if current trends continue. A great writer is capable of writing anything. I don’t believe it’s healthy to continually romanticize “the struggle”. Pain should not be the only selling point for the dollars of African Americans. Although I don’t think a black writer should be forced to write conscience material, I do believe everyone should be situationally aware of the portrayal of characters of color in their stories. There’s centuries of negative stereotypes and tropes that should no longer be acceptable in this day and age. At the very least, these stereotypes are boring and tiresome.
A great example of this is The Boys on Amazon Prime. The character of A-Train is originally a Caucasian male in the comic book, while in the show they casted a Black actor. In the comic book A-Train sexually assaults Starlight who is a blonde haired white woman. Seeing how this could be troublesome with the history of black men being presented as hypersexualized uncontrollable beasts in media, the showrunners elected to give this storyline to The Deep, who is a Caucasian male in the show. Creative choices such as this, shows a new concentrated effort in combating negative stereotypes in all mediums of entertainment.
I hope the future is full of rich, successful and diverse stories created by minorities. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to mold clay into pottery in front of a vast audience. We shape the stories of tomorrow in the hopes that they will be remembered forever. What do you think? Do I have a point or is my “black card” permanently suspended?
