The word “diversity” has come up on
the radar a few times recently, talking about the lack of non-white characters in books and films. Our world, it seems, is predominantly
Caucasian, especially when it comes to the main characters.
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Star Trek has done a better job than
most in covering a few more bases than white male. The original
series was very advanced for the nineteen seventies, where not only
were there two women on the Enterprise's bridge, Uhura was black.
Then we had Mr Sulu (Asian) and because we were still in the Cold
War, the Russian Chekhov was a departure, too. But let's face it, the
main roles were white males. And yes, I'm including Spock. This is
pretty much token diversity. Throw a few people of colour into the
mix to show willing.
That other franchise, Star Wars, was
full of white males. There were no women on the Imperial Star
Destroyer bridges – though we did get a couple of female
controllers among the rebels (think Hoth). Mace Windu, the only black
Jedi, was killed by the emperor. Sure, all the cloned storm troopers
were based on a New Zealander who is part Maori – but they wore
white armour and helmets. Even now, all these years later, Will Smith
is pretty well the only black actor I can think of who has starred in
SF movies. But then, I'm not a movie buff.
As it happens, most of the main
characters in my SF Romance books are not white. You did ask why, didn't you?
I'm Caucasian. White, privileged with
my only demerit being I'm female. Where I live, ninety percent of the
population is white, so I'm not writing “what I know”, I'm
writing what I think will happen.
The percentage of white people within
the world population is shrinking. This
article from the Guardian is worth reading.
It's just one example, you'll find plenty of others online. Whites
(ie European nations) have dominated much of the world for a millennium, but the Egyptians
dominated the world for a lot longer than that. The Ottoman Empire came and went, the Chinese Empire was dominant in that part of the world. Times change,
civilizations rise and fall. I think it's much more likely that the
flag planted on Mars – or even the next one on the Moon – will be
Indian or Chinese, not American or Russian.
That is why the hero in my Morgan
Selwood series, Admiral Ashkar Ravindra, is Indian in appearance.
Dark skin, black hair. So are the rest of his people, because the
planets they inhabit were only seeded by people with that appearance.
Their society is based on the Indian caste system.
By the way, I
chose Indian, and not African or Chinese, because I studied Indian
history at university and I have a few Indian friends, so I know a
little of what I speak.
Morgan Selwood, on the other hand,
comes from the kind of background we're used to in Western culture. I don't see her as
white, but rather as the result of a mixture of races, such as the
striking women you see in Brazil or Argentina or Latin America, with
mocha skin and high cheekbones. As an example, Bianca Jagger comes to
mind.
I'm not the only one who has taken this
general approach. In Elizabeth Moon's Serrano books, the Serrano
family is Latino, I believe for much the same reasons that my heroes
are Indian. And Veronica Scott's heroine in Mission to Mahjundar owes
more than a passing nod to Egypt, which is a passion of hers.
Certainly science fiction romance is
full of strong female characters. I'll throw in Linnea Sinclair's
Sass (Games of Command) and Rya (Hope's Folly). Anne McCaffrey's
Lessa, Pauline Baird Jones's Sara Donovan. I'm sure you'll be able to
suggest plenty of others. But how many of them are non-Caucasian?
There's a few listed here.
PJ Dean, who is an African-American author, gives her POV on non-white characters.
As she so rightly says, don't throw in
non-white characters for the sake of it. But if it's right for your
story, and you know of what you speak, then why not? Variety, after
all, is the spice of life.
