How do I say that someone is black?
Sorry if this is an ancient solved problem to ask in 2019, but I googled about this and Quora isn't really answering me. I searched for the words black and race and politically as key-words on this website but still not a satisfactory answer.
The setting is 2013 in the UK, and my character is approaching three people two of them are sitting on a bench in a garden and one guy who is an elderly black man is standing.
As my character is approaching them, my novel reads;
I walked towards the trio who looked like they were having a conversation. They all seemed welcoming. A teenage looking girl and elderly women were sitting on the log and an elderly black man was standing in front of them.
I don't want to say it as black man and I am not sure of using the word African (will that clearly indicate without being broad). I want to express this just to mention the diversity in that environment although later on in my novel I have clearly expressed him in detail.
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4 answers
If it's not important to the plot, setting, or characterization
Then don't mention it. Mention relevant details, whether those are age, gender, mean- or friendly-looking, etc.
If it does matter that the reader knows their skin color
Then just call them black. Or brown. Or dark-skinned; whatever provides the most important details. If race is a key point, call them black. If sun-burn is going to be a factor, call them dark-skinned, etc. Still include other relevant details like age, gender, clothing, disposition etc. Also describe the other people; if it's important that the elderly man is black, it stands that the skin color of the other two likely matters, whether Caucasian, black, Indian, etc.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43330. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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There is nothing wrong with being black, and there is nothing wrong with saying that someone is black. If your character walks to a bench with an eldery black man sitting on it, write that your character walks to a bench with an eldery black man sitting on it.
Skin color is like any other descriptor, and it help your readers identify the character if they don't know their name. For example, if they have an conversation, you can write "And then the black man stood up and left" and the reader will know which character that is, same as if you would describe him as "tall" and then write "And then the tall character stood up and left".
Another reason to mention he is black would be if it matters to the story, but that is up to you as a writer.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43321. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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A few points, in no particular order:
- "A black man" paints a very different picture from "an elderly black gentleman" or "a tall, black-skinned young man". In the first case, the skin colour is the only thing the narrator sees about the man. That's a bit disconcerting if you look at it like that. In the other examples, skin colour is one of many characteristics, it could have just as easily been "red-haired".
- You definitely don't want to use 'African' for a person who might have lived in the UK for three generations. Your character doesn't know the person is a foreigner - it's not like the story is set in Russia.
- As an alternative to 'black', you can use 'dark-skinned'.
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It seems that you want to want to say the simple fact, but afraid that people will be sensitive for that. In that case, you can allude to the skin color by mentioning their origin first. So if it doesn't affect your story much, say that he is a Kenya person, and people will take the skin color for granted.
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