: I once had a story set in a future setting and my protagonist was an African American teen. In his introduction scene, he and his friend are discussing the school's upcoming production of

I once had a story set in a future setting and my protagonist was an African American teen. In his introduction scene, he and his friend are discussing the school's upcoming production of Shakespeare's "Othello" and my protagonist was being encouraged to go for the titular part (who in modern renditions, is portrayed by someone of African descent). He protested that Iago, the villain (and an Italian/Venitian) was the role he wanted because villains were more fun to play and Iago is Shakespeare's best villain.

The scene established that the hero was a theater nerd AND if the joke was caught, set up to show that the future society was much more accepting of people of different skin color that the fact that the play is debated to be an early commentary against racism never crosses the minds of kids. Othello was the hero and Iago was a villain.

Of course, my Beta readers missed the joke (Othello isn't the most well known Shakespeare play) and I had to point out what I was doing. The best advice I got was to make explicit mention of the race, but I couldn't get it worked in because, my narrator and my character didn't think skin color differences were anything of note.

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