Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31625
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31625
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

### Why is the character black?

[This Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States) contains a chart, based on the US Census bureau and self-identified race, that shows 72.4% of Americans identify as White alone, and 12.6% of Americans identify as Black (or African American) alone. 4.8% identify as being of Asian descent. (In the US Census, one can check any race and then separately self-identify as Hispanic or Latino American. 16.3% do that.)

Only 1/8 of the population is black, Since most racism (by far) in the USA is against blacks, it is a pretty fair assumption by anyone (of any race) that feels this is wrong to assume that the author did not choose to kill a black first **_by accident_** , but because they are racist, overtly, covertly, consciously or unconsciously.

In fiction you don't get a jury trial, the audience decides whether they will endorse, ignore or vilify your work, and we make those decisions the way we make all decisions: We play the odds as if they were determinative.

Since the odds are 87.4% that the first character killed would **not** be black, the odds are that making them _arbitrarily_ black is indicative of racial bias. I hate racism, so why should I spend my money on something I am pretty certain will benefit a racist, not only directly but by increasing their fame and acceptance in the world, perhaps as a role model?

The only caveat you get is if the skin color is determinative to the plot (e.g. my black character was killed by racists) **or** their race was historically inviolable; i.e. no other race could plausibly play the role. For example, you cannot write a story about American slavery without bringing up race. The same is true of modern racism or racial violence, the biography of a person harmed greatly by racism. Similarly, a WW II kamikaze pilot is going to be (and appear to be) Japanese, the leader of China is going to appear to be Chinese.

What these caveats tell you is that the only way to avoid a charge of racism in the writing is if you have a **_damn good racial reason_** the first person killed is black and **_not_** white. That is the political climate now (2017) and one I agree with very strongly.

Those reasons do not include bravery in battle, self-sacrifice, criminality, or anything that could have **equally** been done by a white man: You are still writing against odds.

There are very few plausible _fictional_ reasons a black person is **_more_** likely to be killed first. The story can be about a black family or a black neighborhood where non-blacks are a distinct minority. But if blacks are a small minority of characters, then about the only plausible fictional reason is overt black racism. In that case, for a first-killed black person, racism against blacks better be your fictional reason for killing them first, and that racism can't be a one-off excuse in the story, it has to be central to the story. (For example, you can't cheat by making a walk-on bank robber character happen to be a murderous racist that is never seen again after the murder.)

That doesn't mean blacks (or other races) cannot be represented in your film.

Note that I stress _fictional_ reason: Unlike real life, the audience is always aware that a human author thought up and wrote every line of the book or script. Those sensitive to racism against blacks (and the majority of Americans are) do **not** assume fictional deaths are randomly determined, they know these are intentionally determined by writers and others involved in the publication or production process. So IRL, the first person killed by a flood might indeed be a black man, even if they were the only black in the county. IRL we don't think floods are racist. But if that happens in a movie we know it was an **intentional** choice, and cannot help but think it was made by an author or casting director that values black lives less than white lives.

Of course both blacks and whites can be killed; if in your fiction a bomb goes off in a grocery store or law office, chances are about 1 in 8 of the victims are black. But when it comes to prominent deaths (the first killed, or only person killed in a crowd, or only soldier killed in a squad), much of the audience is not going to question why that was a white, but will question why they were black. This is not "reverse racism", it is about whether it fits the odds (as presented in the fiction) and the fact that the audience **_knows_** it was an authorial choice.

Original score: 7