Writing POC 101

Black American Characters - @salty-

     It's hard to tell whether you're being accurate or offensive when writing a character that's a race you aren't. However, one thing to keep in mind is that stereotypes exist for a reason: these actions are pretty common.

     You don't have to be poor to live in an all-black neighborhood and you'd be surprised that everyone doesn't talk like they've never attending a day of school past third grade.

     But you do have to remember that, as black people, we do often use slang and "Ebonics". But it's still coherent. English is my favorite subject, yet, when I'm around my friends, I drop the N word and all types of profanity. We DO use slang but if your sentence looks like "Wes abouts'ta goes an' git sum chicken." then you're going too far. The occasionally "y'all" "ain't" "me and ___" and, if you're bold "nigga" will suffice!

     When it comes to education, I'm going to keep this completely 100. Guys sag, skip class, and do fail. But so do the white kids that go here. If every white kid in your story passes and only one poc out of your 10, we have a problem. Yes, black students like to act grown and be lazy sometimes but it's not a trait only exhibited by blacks. Both of the white girls that I know out of my entire grade have meh grades.

     Also, we do not all listen to Migos and Chief Keef. A lot of us love pop and rock, but I will admit that you'll be searching hard to find a black teenager that doesn't like at least R&B, if not Hip Hop as well. Even my black Jewish friend listens to R&B and a little rap here and there.

     Which brings me to my next point: religion. Most of us are Christians and it's not common to see girls like me that are agnostic. I have yet to meet a black atheist. The girls that I know that actually go to church and practice the religion are actually more open minded than the homophobes that are Christian because their family is.

     Ah. Homophobia. I don't get TOO upset when I don't see queer male POC just because their masculinity can be even more fragile than white boys. You saw people go crazy over Twitter changing the heart to a star and faggot is used often by black youth. Religion has helped to ingrain homophobia and slut shaming into our minds along with gender roles. I'm not saying every person in your story should be flaming people of hatred but the only people in the story that are bigots shouldn't be white people. Don't even get me started on transphobia. But you always have a good handful of open-minded folk like me in every school. Girls typically are more accepted as queer when compared to guys.

     But please just remember to use stereotypes with caution and remember we can be smart, formal, polite, and rich. Just don't make a magical POC who has perfect grammar and hates rap. I love rap and classical music and I get great grades but love slang and eating Popeye's. Moderation is everything!