If you don't know by now I am a black woman. Seriously go check out my About Me page. There is a big picture of me live and in living color. I love being black and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Yes there are a lot of things that I would change in a heartbeat about the state of blacks in America, but that is for another post.
I love reading if you didn't know that either. I'm fantasy hound. I love all things fantasy. Well I'm starting to get into horror a little bit but I'm not sure it falls under fantasy. As you can imagine there isn't a lot of characters of color in fantasy books. Let alone people of color writing fantasy books. I hope to change that with my books.
Since there aren't a lot of black authors writing fantasy it has fallen to white people to try and include black people in their books. Well some of them are trying. Now don't misunderstand me I am in no way saying that white can't write characters of color. Hell I have white characters in my books, not a lot mind you but some. My question is are they writing black characters?
My bone on contention is on their portrayal of black characters. Their black characters are as shallow as a kiddie pool during a hot Texas day. They are all working off the same cheat sheet that was created in the 1950s.
They are working from basic Black Character Archetypes that rarely vary or change. Its almost as if they believe that black people are incapable of straying from these archetypes. That we can't evolve. Or they are just being lazy. Not taking the time to research, interact with, observe black people in our natural environments.
Here is are just a few of the most basic character archetypes that are used for the basis of black characters in literature.
1. Mamie
This is a black female character that is used to be the mother figure in the tale. She is affectionate, compassionate, she is used as the foil for other mothers or mother figures. She is usually an older, often overweight woman. I mean if she is going to be your mother she can't me sexy right. Soccer moms are not sexy. They have cheese doodles in their hair and they drive space shuttle mom vans.
And since she is black she has to be fat because most of us are fat.
She helps the title characters navigate the turmoil that is their lives. There advice and comfort is often sought, but is never heeded.
Though she is black she is as close to white as can be in her mannerisms. After all the white characters have to feel comfortable coming to her. She most often lives in the burbs with 2.5 children, a dotting husband.
Notable Characters: Claire Washburn from Womens' Murder club mysteries by James Patterson. Mammy from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. Sex Kitten
Here is a woman that has no moral compass when it comes to her sex life. She enjoys it and she will have it with you, your best friend and your husband if she has half the chance. She is every white man's fantasy. Carmel colored skin (because dark skinned women aren't the sex kittens), long black hair that is permed and silky to the touch.
She loves her role as the sex kitten and will even turn down offers to take her away from all her troubles because this is all she knows. She sometimes is an actual working girl but most often she just enjoys sex. Where as Samantha was Sex and the City was applauded for her sexual escapades, the Black Sex Kitten is the butt of all jokes. She is the woman to hide your men from and turn your nose up at. She is the woman to compare your sexual knowledge against. If she knows it, its bad, if you don't do it you're a good girl.
3. Tall, dark and psycho
This man's name is Dangerous, with a capital D. He comes from a broken home. A single mother with his father either in jail, dead or just a deadbeat. He is most often the oldest child of many. He never finished school and he fall in with a bad element, went to juvie and or jail and just can't seem to get his life in order.
Possibly because he is just a rotten apple to the core. He is the man our mothers warned us about. He gets off on hurting people. Especially women. He is the nightmare the KKK is still trying to protect white women from.
Something is misfiring in his brain and there aren't any redeeming qualities for this man. He should be put down and put down hard as soon as possible.
Sometimes this man is giving some redeeming qualities because he is the bad boy love interest of the white female lead. Because just like the white man craves a black sex kitten, the white woman craves her Mandingo. He is used as the foil for the white male lead when he makes a move on the FMC. She has to have someone to choose from. I mean she can't just have one man interested in her.
Notable Characters: Blade in Blade comics by Marv Wolfman, Mustafa from the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlene Harris, Jamal from the Nikki Glass series by Jenna Black, Ranger from Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich (he is not black but only because in an Italian girl dating a black guy in Jersey is liable to cause WWIII, so is his Cuban which is close enough), Zayvon Jones from Allie Beckstorm novels by Devon Monk, Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Ghetto Fabulous or the Hood Rat
This can be a man but most often its a female. She is uneducated and likes it that way. She is a finger popping, neck rolling, bubble gum chewing ghetto queen and proud of it. She too comes from a broken home. She was either molested as a child or a former or current prostitute. She too has a bust moral compass. She will do anything that profits her. She is loyal to her family and her hood and she will protect it to the detriment of all else. She has two or more children with two or more baby daddies. She is unmarried and always on the lookout for another baby daddy or a sugar daddy to keep her in her Dolce and Gabana sunglasses. She can be a good mother when she puts her mind to it, but she is more concerned with securing a steady income from her various schemes than she is in being a good mom.
She is the ghetto tour guide for the white leads. I mean they have to delve into the underbelly of society from time to time. They can't be expected to navigate that alone. Hood Rat to the rescue.
Notable Characters: Lula from Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich,
5. Fat Chick
She is the comic relief. Her wit is razor sharp and she can reduce a man to a thumb sucking, sniffling baby in 2.5 seconds. She is smart, she is sassy. She has to be. She takes the brunt of all the jokes and scorn in the book. She is the ugly girl that allows the main white character to shine even more than she should.
She is either completely incompetent at everything. That way the white character is the only star in the system, or she is the sidekick who knows everything but feeds it to the white main character that way she once again is the only star, but a smart star.
I love reading if you didn't know that either. I'm fantasy hound. I love all things fantasy. Well I'm starting to get into horror a little bit but I'm not sure it falls under fantasy. As you can imagine there isn't a lot of characters of color in fantasy books. Let alone people of color writing fantasy books. I hope to change that with my books.
Since there aren't a lot of black authors writing fantasy it has fallen to white people to try and include black people in their books. Well some of them are trying. Now don't misunderstand me I am in no way saying that white can't write characters of color. Hell I have white characters in my books, not a lot mind you but some. My question is are they writing black characters?
My bone on contention is on their portrayal of black characters. Their black characters are as shallow as a kiddie pool during a hot Texas day. They are all working off the same cheat sheet that was created in the 1950s.
They are working from basic Black Character Archetypes that rarely vary or change. Its almost as if they believe that black people are incapable of straying from these archetypes. That we can't evolve. Or they are just being lazy. Not taking the time to research, interact with, observe black people in our natural environments.
Here is are just a few of the most basic character archetypes that are used for the basis of black characters in literature.
1. Mamie
This is a black female character that is used to be the mother figure in the tale. She is affectionate, compassionate, she is used as the foil for other mothers or mother figures. She is usually an older, often overweight woman. I mean if she is going to be your mother she can't me sexy right. Soccer moms are not sexy. They have cheese doodles in their hair and they drive space shuttle mom vans.And since she is black she has to be fat because most of us are fat.
She helps the title characters navigate the turmoil that is their lives. There advice and comfort is often sought, but is never heeded.
Though she is black she is as close to white as can be in her mannerisms. After all the white characters have to feel comfortable coming to her. She most often lives in the burbs with 2.5 children, a dotting husband.
Notable Characters: Claire Washburn from Womens' Murder club mysteries by James Patterson. Mammy from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. Sex Kitten
Here is a woman that has no moral compass when it comes to her sex life. She enjoys it and she will have it with you, your best friend and your husband if she has half the chance. She is every white man's fantasy. Carmel colored skin (because dark skinned women aren't the sex kittens), long black hair that is permed and silky to the touch.
She loves her role as the sex kitten and will even turn down offers to take her away from all her troubles because this is all she knows. She sometimes is an actual working girl but most often she just enjoys sex. Where as Samantha was Sex and the City was applauded for her sexual escapades, the Black Sex Kitten is the butt of all jokes. She is the woman to hide your men from and turn your nose up at. She is the woman to compare your sexual knowledge against. If she knows it, its bad, if you don't do it you're a good girl.
3. Tall, dark and psycho
Possibly because he is just a rotten apple to the core. He is the man our mothers warned us about. He gets off on hurting people. Especially women. He is the nightmare the KKK is still trying to protect white women from.
Something is misfiring in his brain and there aren't any redeeming qualities for this man. He should be put down and put down hard as soon as possible.
Sometimes this man is giving some redeeming qualities because he is the bad boy love interest of the white female lead. Because just like the white man craves a black sex kitten, the white woman craves her Mandingo. He is used as the foil for the white male lead when he makes a move on the FMC. She has to have someone to choose from. I mean she can't just have one man interested in her.
Notable Characters: Blade in Blade comics by Marv Wolfman, Mustafa from the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlene Harris, Jamal from the Nikki Glass series by Jenna Black, Ranger from Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich (he is not black but only because in an Italian girl dating a black guy in Jersey is liable to cause WWIII, so is his Cuban which is close enough), Zayvon Jones from Allie Beckstorm novels by Devon Monk, Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Ghetto Fabulous or the Hood Rat
She is the ghetto tour guide for the white leads. I mean they have to delve into the underbelly of society from time to time. They can't be expected to navigate that alone. Hood Rat to the rescue.
Notable Characters: Lula from Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich,
5. Fat Chick
She is the comic relief. Her wit is razor sharp and she can reduce a man to a thumb sucking, sniffling baby in 2.5 seconds. She is smart, she is sassy. She has to be. She takes the brunt of all the jokes and scorn in the book. She is the ugly girl that allows the main white character to shine even more than she should.
She is either completely incompetent at everything. That way the white character is the only star in the system, or she is the sidekick who knows everything but feeds it to the white main character that way she once again is the only star, but a smart star.
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