: Re: How do I respectfully write black characters in a 1930s Arizona setting? I'm writing a cartoon script aimed at a children/young-adult audience (similar to the audience of Steven Universe, Gravity

@Mendez196

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This is fiction, and a cartoon for kids, no less. And the point is to meet interesting people, I don't think what is "interesting" has to be about racism, oppression, or any social aspect of their lives. What is interesting should not have anything to do with the color of their skin. Perhaps it is how they are farming, or hunting, or the art they are doing. In any case, even if they are criminals, I would make sure that has nothing to do with the color of their skin, either.

My instincts would be to first, meet them in isolation; not in a mixed setting where the oppressed characters are actually in the process of being oppressed.

Second, write about, as MLK would say, the content of their character, not the package that character is wrapped in.

If I couldn't do that, I just wouldn't write it. I find plenty of stories without having to deal with real-life racism on top of it. I see plenty of stories on TV and in movies that are just implicitly post-racial and I don't see anything wrong with that. Just write your way around the racial confrontations; let your main characters be non-discriminatory.

Personally, I hate "dealing with racism" in fiction, it always comes off as phony to me. There is no easy solution, other than simple time and exposure and mixing will eventually fade it all away, hopefully. You can have people of many races in your fiction, and just exercise your right as an author to put racism aside and talk about other things.

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