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Cultural Appropriation: can a white writer ever create minority characters?
When is it okay for a white writer to create a black character? For instance, I'm white, but writing an urban fantasy featuring a bi-racial (black mother, absent white father) jazz musician who's down-on-his-luck... because he's a heroin addict like many jazz musicians. It's set in 1978, and (like me back in the late 70s/ early 80s) he's a huge P-Funk fan so he slips P-Funk-isms into his thoughts, like calling the antagonist, a white drug dealer he owes money to, as "Sir Nose d'Voidofunk." My question is, would folks see that as cultural appropriation? I'm interested because I'm a huge social justice progressive and yet often feel stymied by political correctness. My intent is to embrace Jimmy (who I really, really like despite his flaws). In fact, of all the characters in my urban fantasy world, Jimmy's the one most like myself (though I've never tried heroin and am a middling jazz guitarist at best). Thanks in advance. PS. Everyone wins. But in payment, I'll read your most recent work and comment. Please tag me in your comments.
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spike1 in Fiction
113 reads

Don’t even try.

As far as I’m concerned, the whole social justice bollocks has gone too far as it is.

You just can’t win with ’em.

If you write something with a black character, they’ll very likely accuse you of cultural appropriation.

If you write all white characters, they’ll winge and whine and complain that your book isn’t “diverse enough”.

So, don’t try to appease them. Social justice warriors (the worst of them) have no common sense beyond the end of their own agendas. Incredibly unpleasant, judgemental hypocrites the lot of ’em.

At least you said you’re only a social justice progressive rather than an SJW.

In other words, write what the hell you want and screw everyone else. Only you matter. Well, you and your potential readers and most of them will not fall into the SJW category anyway.

The SJWs are likely to complain whether they read it or not. Just like the religious nutjobs did when Life of Brian came out. Complain without even seeing it.

Just as the easily offended did with the Brass Eye Paedophiles special. Thousands of complaints. None of them saw it. It was hilarious.

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