Absolutely

Think back in time just a bit. The majority of writers were white as caucasians were taking over the world. The only books that people had access to were showing white characters writen by white authors. The main problem there was that even authors of other ethnicities were writing white characters because that's all they had read about.

Now, think of it like this. What if white people wrote the stories of black or asian people? How do you think that could change?

And now think of current day. We have increasing numbers of interracial people being born, but they are still being categorized in one group based on their skin tone. Where do you want to draw the line? On the identity people feel closest to, or to the one that is most relatable to their target audience? Or should they have all their characters identify as interracial?

Let's get into a bit more sketchy territory now. Look at the most famous authors of our time. How many of them are white? How many of them are any other skin tone? It's still disproportional to the ratios within America as a whole (I am taking an American-centric view for this). How can you tell someone to limit their characters and their experiences due to the experiences of the author? How does that send messages to the audience about how characters should be?

Recent works in the young adult section have been adding in people of color as the main character but that doens't mean they're easy to find. There's also the aspect that the general assumption of the character is that they're white no matter their experience, unless the cover shows the face of how the character has been imagined.

What message does this send people? That main characters should be white? What message does it send young white readers when they see white people writing about white people, or black readers when they see the same thing?

American culture is dominated by the belief that a white skin tone is the average, the norm. And books are a part of that system of belief, and the idea that people of different colors can't understand the struggles of others.

This should change. Why not start with books?