I’m a white girl.  I’m from a white neighborhood that’s overwhelmingly Irish catholic, and I believe the first African American I ever met was a boy my brother knew when I was in sixth grade.  He had a long commute to come to our school.  For these reasons, I feel like I’m both overwhelmingly unqualified to write this post, and also part of the problem itself.

White washed covers concern me, an issue that’s been addressed all around the web lately first because of Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR, and more recently (and all the more shamefully because it was from the SAME publisher) Jaclyn Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER GLASS.  (Check out Pub Rants, Editorial Anonymous for more and better info)

But my question and quandry is a much more personal and less PC one.  As a student in a creative writing Master’s degree, I got into a lively discussion with my Australian teacher, who felt like a burden had been placed on her to write about Australia’s aboriginal peoples, and yet for her to write it was seen as judgmental, hypocritical, and implying that those aboriginal peoples (of which she was not one) couldn’t write their own story.

I was also taught to write what you know, and it was something I didn’t agree with.  My idea is more to write what captures you, to write about emotions and actions instead of scenes and tableaux.

So where does this all leave me?  I don’t really feel like I have anything meaningful to contribute to multicultural literature, so should I just not be concerned with it?  In my books so far I’ve written about people without describing their race or much of their looks; all I’ll describe, most often, is their hair, because I think it’s very expressive.  So on the one hand, that doesn’t exclude anyone of any race, but it also doesn’t INCLUDE anyone either.

What is my responsibility here?  As I start a new project, should I be more concerned with exploring and representing cultural issues and more importantly, culturally specific characters (no matter what they’re specific to)?

Honestly,  I don’t know.  It doesn’t seem like it’s authentic, but at the same time, it feels like it’s something that’s incredibly important to be not only concerned with, but acutely aware of.  Honestly, I don’t know what the right answer is.  Honestly, I don’t know what my responsibility is, or if its a total case of hubris to think I have some responsibility, or negligence that I don’t already know what it is.

Any input?

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