How does one describe somebody who is bi-racial to someone who is blind? [closed]
Closed by System on Mar 13, 2019 at 09:00
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Describing mixed races in this way would be too broad. How do I say that someone is black?
How do you describe somebody of two or more races?
Word like mixed and biracial do not depict that person's unique features. Some books that have the main characters on the cover so you have an idea of what the characters look like but some books do not.
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Where I live, belonging to two-three ethnic groups is the norm. Children in school boast about being a quarter Iraqi, a quarter Moroccan, a quarter Polac and a quarter old Jerusalemi.
How does one describe people when that's the situation? One forgets ethnicities (since by this point, they affect the kitchen more than anything), and describes what people actually look like. One mentions hair colour, and whether it's curly or straight. Skin colour: it can be pale, sunburnt, tanned, all kinds of brown. See also my question How to describe skin colour, if “white” is not the point of reference? There are facial features: eyes, lips, nose, cheeks. There's body shape - slim, curvy, whatever. There's the clothes. It's not about hanging "race" tags on a person (whatever "race" means anyway) - it's about describing the individual in front of you, and what that specific individual looks like.
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I know one couple - delightful folks with lovely kids; he is an American from Kentucky who was a chemical physicist. He sold cars in my town and I asked him why the career change. He told me he met the love of his life and chose to sell cars rather than travel. His in-laws ran the best Korean restaurant in the area - absolutely fabulous. Not that it is important, but he is black and she is of Korean descent. Their kids are energetic beautiful kids.
I took a friend to talk to him about a car - learned how racist this guy is when he turned to me later and said “Why didn’t you tell me he was dark?”. Didn’t matter - he was the best person to talk to about buying a vehicle - period.
Unless it is important to the plot, don’t mention it. You could have a later scene where someone envies your character’s tan. A fiancee of my brother’s had that comment made to her occasionally. She wasn’t biracial (just very light)both of her parents were black. They were a delight and so was her brother, but this girl was a bullet my brother dodged. Her idea of his contribution to decision making in their family was whether to have jam or marmalade on their toast in the morning. We hated her, but not for the colour of her skin - for her character.
Make race a minor consideration. It is a story you are telling - not propaganda. Just write and let the characters speak for themselves. Readers can imagine them as they wish if you leave latitude.
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