Today I have a guest post from fellow blogger Steph Su of Steph Su Reads. Steph is an extremely talented blogger... she's won "Best Written Blog" for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, two years running! And she was also nominated this year for "Best YA Book Blog." Please join me in welcoming Steph!
I didn't think much of the fact that most of the books I read when I was in middle or high school featured white characters. What did it matter anyway, I thought, as long as the story was compelling, the writing good, and the characters relatable?
In a sense, that's exactly the problem...and exactly the answer to itself. It's a PROBLEM if we consider being white the "default race," the race that everyone else can relate to easy-peasy. Having a white character doesn't mean that the story is race-less, that one has successfully avoided the issue of racial and ethnic diversity. We only think it feels that way because society has assumed as its norm the Western, white, Anglo-Saxon appearance, way of thinking, values, etc. Anyone that does not fit into that category is considered "other."
It's the SOLUTION because we can stop trying to make race into an issue and just an everyday part of our lives. A book featuring a POC main character does not have to be an "issues" book. Diversity--or the lack thereof--is a major issue, but someone's race or ethnicity doesn't have to be. My and others' reading experiences has shown that we Asians, blacks, Latinos, etc. can relate to white characters. Why does it make sense to assume that white readers would have trouble relating to or empathizing with POC characters?
For the 21st-century teen, the "other" is not usually a particular group of people; it's us, ourselves. We have all felt like the "other" at least once during our teen years. That's just what happens during adolescence: you feel like an outsider, always one step out of sync with your peers or your parents, uncertain of the future yet not willing to settle for your childhood naivety. Everyone--regardless of age, race, ethnicity, height, weight, hobbies, dreams, sexual orientation, childhood, family--everyone knows what it feels like to be "other." That's the one thing that connects all of our teen experiences...and the most important thing that matters when it comes to relating to one another, in my opinion, recognizing that others have felt and do feel the same way you do.
You can visit Steph at her blog Steph Su Reads.