A Great Big White World

Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Katniss Everdeen, Tris Prior, Clary Fray, Hazel Grace Lancaster. What do these all have in common? They are all characters from popular YA Novels. But they are also all white, and this is problematic because Black, brown, indigenous, and other kids of color need to see themselves reflected in the books they read.  

However, a 2020 study conducted by the New York times found that while books by authors of color topped best-seller lists, the major of books published between 1950 and 2018 were by white authors.

Furthermore, Lee and Low’s 2019 Diversity Baseline study found that only 5% of books published were by Black authors. This is despite pushes for diversity by organizations like We Need Diverse Books and Writer of Color.

But it’s not just a matter of books by authors of color not being published at the same rates as those by their white peers. As the Lee and Low study also found, publishing at every level is overwhelmingly white; a whopping 76% of publishing staff, review journal staff, and literary agents are white. What this means for Black and other writers of color is that their work is seen through the prism of whiteness, if their work is viewed at all.

White Saviors and Magical Negros

For several years now some allo, cis, het, white authors have added characters of color to their stories. But the problem with this is two-fold. First, these stories are praised and elevated over ones by authors of color and take the space that should go to own voice books. Second, the characters of color in these stories are often whitewashed and or made to be passive secondary characters whose only purpose is to advance the story of the white protagonist.  Moreover, as writer Aisha Monet detailed in her medium.com article Queer Love Interests of Color and The White Gaze, characters of color in YA romance are often rendered passive objects for the white characters to claim. Case in point in, Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Blue is revealed to Black, yet because all his interactions with Simon are filter through Simon’s POV we never get to explore his character. The same thing happened in its sequel “Leah Out Loud,” where the eponymous Leah lusts after Abbey, the sole black female in her friend group.

Likewise, in The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson, you have Dean, a conservative gay white male who falls for Dre, a Black liberal guy. Even though it’s from Dre’s POV, he is beyond whitewashed. This leads me to my next point: The white gaze. 

The White Gaze

The white gaze, like the male gaze, is the tendency for media to be filtered through the lens of whiteness and to cater to white audiences. This results in characters of color, if they appear at all, being whitewashed. Case in point, as I mentioned above, Blue and Abbey suffer from this, as do Nathan Byrd and Oliver Hernandez from Kind of an Epic Love Story, and Nico Alvarez and Wesley Hudson from The Summer of Everything. In both cases you wouldn’t know they weren’t your typical white boys, because everything about their ethnicity has been stripped from them. This is especially disconcerting since both books are written by authors of color.

This is harmful because it reinforces that notion that whiteness is the only thing that sales. Yes, the majority of YA reader are white and female, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other demographics that read the genre.

Whitewashing characters, while it may land you broad reader appeal, is harmful to and further marginalizes people of color. It also perpetuates the notion that books by and about people of color must be about race and racism, or our trauma, designed to make white liberals feel good about themselves without ever having to unpack their privilege, dismantle systems of oppression, or address the racists among their friends and family.  Ultimately, the white gaze can be dismantled by decentering whiteness as the default.

By Default

Often unless stated explicitly, all characters are assumed to be allo, cis, het. white males. This is because white males and stories about whiteness are deemed universal, while the narratives of everyone else are made the other. White men are said to be stand ins for everyone, the everyman. But in YA the allo, cis, het, white female reigns supreme. This is equally problematic because YA characters and reader come from all backgrounds and stories should reflect this.

But how can we change this?

How to Tackle YA’s Race Problem

First, challenge white readers when they say things like, “I couldn’t relate to a character of color.” Black and brown readers have grown up awash in a sea of white characters, yet you rarely hear us complain about not being able to connect with them. It’s a thing called empathy. Try it some time. 

Second, we need to unpack the institutional racism inherent in the publishing industry, starting with the weird notion that there can only be one book by a writer of color in the same calendar year, but infinity by white authors.

Third, publishing needs to pay writers of color and other content creators of color the same as their white counter parts. The PublishingPaidMe hashtag and the subsequent article about it in vox documents a pattern of publishing devaluing the work of writers of color and this must stop. No more doing work for exposure or experience. Have paid internships in cities other than NYC or LA and have more remote ones, so more people can participate in them.

Fourth, hear the concerns of authors and readers of color and actually address them. Don’t just hire a few agents or editors of color or open your DMs to Black and brown authors when it’s politically convenient to do so and call yourself done. Get rid of the notion there can only be one successful author of color at a time and stop pitting us against each other like we’re cocks fighting for your entertainment. Market us and our books like you do white authors. Stop segregating our books in the urban/Black section and put them with the rest of the YA books by white writers.

Fifth, allow authors of color the space to write about whatever they want instead of the same stories of pain and suffering. Make room at the table for us and make us feel welcome so we stay to mentor the next generation.

Conclusion

 Why is this issue so important to me? Because I’m a YA author of color and know what it’s like growing up with few representations of people like yourself. I vividly remember feeling so isolated and like such a freak because there weren’t many people like me in the stories I read as a teen and young adult. So, I decided to change that by becoming a writer.

Before you come at me with accusations of wanting to cancel writers, know this doesn’t have to do with cancel culture. It’s just a fact that books by white authors get more than their share of attention, and it’s past time works by authors of color get their due.  Some of my favorite YA writers of color include LL McKinney, Kwame Mbalia, Dhonielle Clayton, and Angie Thomas. Check them out.

 Ultimately, all I and other authors and readers of colors are asking for is to see ourselves reflected on the page and to be seen as equals with our white brethren.

Is that so much to ask?

Well, what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.