#46 - The Black Character

Today’s words: Instruct, Fiction, Increase, Juvenile 

Word count: 518

Completion time: 59 minutes

Summary: It’s possible to write a black character without making them a Black Character

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Oh hey, I see that you’ve thought me up as a black male character. That’s cool and all, as long as you make me a person and not some cookie-cut character that you’ll find all over the news, in a majority of films, and various other public media sources and works of fiction. 

Before we go any further, I’m not having at go at you at all, I’m thankful; you’re my creator, you decide what I do and don’t do, whether I’m a ‘good guy’ or not, you have my life at your fingertips...but you’d better be careful – that pen is a loaded gun that you think is safe until you blow someone’s brains out. It might happen by accident, or even on purpose because you assume that almost all black guys stick to certain personalities, talk a certain way, or dress in a fashion that may as well be the Black Guy Uniform. Let’s flip it around a little so you can see what I’m getting at – how many ‘white guy’ stereotypes are there, in general? 

When I think ‘white guy’, nothing instantly comes to mind that would fit a stereotype, all I see is a white guy (who for some reason is wearing a suit but I wouldn’t say a suit is stereotypical to a white male, but maybe it is?). However, when I think ‘black guy’, my mind takes a negative turn, it thinks of thugs in gangs, delinquent juveniles, guns, baggy clothes, ‘broken’ English, aggression... Who the hell planted that there? Why did I think that? Why is the media trying to push me to think negatively of black people? Why are they telling me to distrust and avoid my brothers? Why is it that I am encouraged to hate myself, to be ashamed of a colour that is as much a part of me as my beating heart? I didn’t choose this, rather, this is a part of who I am! But hold on...if you make me even a little angry, I’m just that angry black guy who’s capable of beating you senseless if you look at him the wrong way, right?

So here’s the deal: I instruct you to increase my worth. Don’t make me a side-character whose only purpose is to be a token character that is only there as a prop or for someone else’s story progression. Develop my character, make me interesting, make people see that there is more to me than what they would expect from me. 

It’s okay if you want to make me gay, it’s okay if you put me in suit, it’s okay if you make me speak formally, it’s okay if you make me shy, vegan, smart, inquisitive...because no matter what, I will still be that black male character that you want to write in, I just won’t be The Black Character.

And hey, I’m not saying that every TV show or movie or whatever writes us in bad, poorly developed roles, but more often than not, that is the case. So write me well, please.

...What do you mean you’ve done it already?