Who is left to write from the perspecive of the Mohican? The Bo? Capayan? Koningo, Lache, or Taino? Should we forbid anyone to write from their perspective and thus consign them permanently to the bin of forgotten history? What of the living tribes of the Amazon who have no written language and no author to relate their tales or stories of their perspective to ecnourage support or knowledge of their experience?

Look at it another way. Should we only allow former Nazis to write of the experiences and history of their exploits? Of course not, since we all know very well that there would be little or no reflection on the actual results and horrors of their history. Even the few that would write ‘honestly’ would by nature have to mitigate their own involvement to avoid outright castigation.

I understand the sentiment to deny anyone other than a member of the group to write from or about the group. It seems noble on its face, however: It severly limits exposure of smaller groups to society as a whole since there would be fewer authors available if any. Although the proponents of such a ‘ban’ would claim a racial element I contend that it is equally racial to propose the ‘ban’ in the first place. After all, the ultimate reality is that we are all basically equal and internally the same human base model, with different exteriors and experiences. If an author is careful to research thoroughly, and rigorously filters their own internal voices, they may be able to create a path to understanding that would otherwise not be there, or might be rejected outright due to the authors actual race.

Of course, if we take the ‘ban’ to the extreme, then we would have to end the practice of publishing Biographies, as that too would be ‘appropriational’. Also, men could only write novels filled with other men and only the description or non-interpretive dialogue for any women encountered in the novel. By the way, nobody seems to mind the female writers in Vogue or Cosmo writing article after article each year since forever, about “What men really think!” or “Why your man does what he does!” And of course noone ever really knows who wrote the dialogue of the various characters in television shows or movies.

Finally, I notice during these discussions of late, the limitation seems to be aimed only at 'certain' groups. For example, gay writers may write about straight characters but not vice versa, or black writers can create white characters but not the reverse. Once again, as long as the author is careful in their research, and diligent in their efforts to filter out their own perspectives when writing about or for characters of other backgrounds, it is my opinion that they do more good than harm.

Of course I am an extremist when it comes to freedom to write and say whatever you wish, however you wish, leaving the task of censorship up to the readers.