You don't have to fear making black characters in stories
Alright so for context I'm a black man, (Either that or I'm white with the weirdest tan in the world) and sometimes I see something about making black characters that confuse me and it usually comes in to form of "I don't create black characters because I fear I might mess up"
As a artist and somebody currently working my own personal story this makes me scratch me head for a myriad of reasons. I'm not saying these people are irredeemable monsters for having such a thought and should be sent to guillotine. I understand why this thought is,
But I don't really like the take. That's why I decided to make this blog for any random creative that comes across and fear creating black characters and give my reason why I feel you shouldn't fear creating them.
"People might get mad if I mess it up"
Eh.... sort of
Yea It's true that people will get mad if you screw up, but I usually only see this for horrifically bad black characters. I feel that as long as you show that you put some level of effort into making a black character than you be in the clear.
On top of that people will get mad at you regardless we're on the internet where no matter what somebody will be angry at you, You can post a photo of yourself drinking a glass of water and somebody will still get pissed at you.
Trying to make something that won't enrage somebody is basically an impossible task.
What if I don't know how to make a black character and I come across as racist?
... learn?
Sorry if that comes across as mean, but that's how you become a better creator by learning how to do things, there are a ton of different resources about making black characters by black creatives. Hell there are even some that will be more than happy to help you if you ask nicely!
Also sometimes you will screw up, This isn't me being rude it's true. One example is the Payday games. In the game there is a Black character part of the original four nicknamed Chains. He's a great character and all, but his name unfortunately has a relation to slavery.
Did the mind behind Payday intend for this? No! It was just a complete accident. Chains name came from his time in the Navy. It's also isn't that big of a deal since the vast majority of players don't connect Chains' name to Slavery.
That's the point I'm trying to make here tough sometime no matter how much research you do, you will accidentally do something that if read a certain way be a little racist.
The important thing is that once again you're trying.
Hell I even go as far to say that not attempting to make black characters come off as more racist as you basically equating us to some incomprehensible being and not just a human
Surprise bitches this can apply to a lot of different minority characters, and this whole blog is about diversity, Ya dumdums
Truth be told everything I said about black characters can also apply to well... any type of characters. Asian, Latino, Trans, Gay, Bi, ETC. It's important that you don't fear making any characters of groups you're not apart of, "But why?" You might ask. Excellent question and to that I point to one of the writer of the Left 4 Dead franchise
His main point is that diversity is important as it helps all of your characters stand out more!
Lets take L4D for example imagine if the mindset here was applied to L4d.
"Oh guys... I don't know having a character who's a vietnam war vet, might be hard to write, I don't want to mess up the black character, I don't want to end up writing a woman who is offensive, and Bikers might be angry if we don't properly do a biker guy right.
As for the 2nd game maybe we shouldn't do two black characters one being a black girl? It's just so hard guys! We also can't do an ex-con as it can be offensive to people who was in jail. Also no southerns I don't know how to create a southern character.
Lets just keep it simple and make 8 white dudes with buzz cuts that's easy to write"
Does that sound interesting? NO! Everything that made the L4D characters interesting is just evaporated.
This applies to basically every story. The more memorable ones I feel has a ton of different characters from different walks of life and identity and it helps them stand out more!.
This whole post is basically me trying to encourage basically any and all creatives/story tellers to not fear doing diversity wrong.
Because for me at least I rather take a bad Black character that at least showcase you putting in effort rather than no black characters at all.
Any Questions, and/or Comments just shoot me an email at
Vidknight@mail.com
and I'll be sure to respond :D