Am I A Writer of Color?
But there was something exciting afoot. We all wanted to take the new English Dept. classes on writings from various cultures and ethnic groups within the U.S. (I’ve never liked the word “minority” because it implies something less than wholeness.) The idea of multiculturalism was taking root.
If you call being Jewish, “of Color” then “Yes, I am.” At Brown U. in the 80’s I attended Black-Jewish dialogues. At the time, this sort of bridging-the-gaps between cultures was TOTALLY NEW and UNHEARD OF. No one could ever imagine that there would actually be a black President in our lifetimes (or at least not before we were very, very old). I am not crediting my generation entirely. Of course, civil rights have been fought for by many since the civil war and before.
But there was something exciting afoot. We all wanted to take the new English Dept. classes on writings from various cultures and ethnic groups within the U.S. (I’ve never liked the word “minority” because it implies something less than wholeness.) The idea of multiculturalism was taking root.
Paul Simon came out with Graceland where he used African musicians and music styles and World Music moved into mainstream culture. I took a course on Women Writers of Color where we read much by African-American women writers, some of which was quite intense. I drew a cartoons for the Brown Divest group and was active in this movement that advocated universities divest of investment in companies that did business with the South African Apartheid Regime.
I also traveled to Kenya as an exchange student and took courses in African history and colonialism and wrote my longest college paper ever for an African History class on Colonialism. Later, at UCLA I studied Asian-American Literature and Native-American Literature. Do you notice a trend here?
Writing for children came later (though I wrote a great fairy tale in 5th grade and also made up numerous stories for my students as a Waldorf teacher). Oh, did I mention that school was in Kenya? Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that I would want to write now for and about children from all over the world?
As a teacher and reader, I know that the right book can change your life. Kids need to read about characters they can relate to…
Hooray for multicultural literature! Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elizabeth. I encourage all writers to explore adding characters of many nationalities, cultures and religions to their books without having that necessarily be a major part of their story.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! It is hard to find literature that relate to my kids in English due to mixed race (and I think that they each identify as different races). But it's out there in English, I just have to find it! It's so nice to know publishers are valuing diversity in their books.
ReplyDeleteIn Japanese it is still 50 years ago comparatively. I have never ever seen diversity tackled in any Japanese children's book. Hope that changes too.
I am not a writer of color, but I am a writer committed to multicultural literature for children in all its shades and colors. My life has been too multicultural for my writing not to reflect this also. I appreciate the post.
ReplyDeleteSo true...but I think multicultural writing allows for kids (and us) to connect to characters we may not be able to relate to, at first, but then discover have many things in common with us on a deeper level.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic Deborah and it works on several levels for kids I'm sure. Has anyone heard about Taye Diggs CHOCOLATE ME... an amazing book that everyone from any walk of life relate to this topic.
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes! I'd love to see more children's/YA books that include characters of different backgrounds/religions/races/etc., but don't just focus on that difference.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have loved to read about different cultures and especially different places (Africa, to be sure!) when I was a kid; I know I do now as an adult. I think you can put your travel experiences to great use in stories for kids.
ReplyDelete