Diversity Win: Is "Crazy Rich" POC Representation Necessarily Empowering?
sodapopsculptor asked:
I’m writing a story with two sets of protagonists: A trio with a Black girl, a Latino, and a Vietnamese-American boy who all come from middle-upper class to ridiculously rich families, and a pair of white working-middle class sisters. They’re all heroes of this story. I’ve seen way too many rich white people and poor poc people in fiction, and I’m kinda getting sick of it, but I’m worried that by having the poc kids be rich and the white girls not so much, I’ll be reinforcing the idea that poc somehow rule the world.
The only time the rich kids use their status as leverage is when the Asian threatens to sic his cop dad on a bully (race unstated but I imagined him as white) picking on a freshman, and during the Black girl’s birthday party, when she pays the biggest jock there fifty bucks (And later says offhandedly that it was just what she had in her pocket) to chase off a creep hitting on her.
OP, have you ever seen the “diversity win!” meme before?
I understand that your motivation for these narrative choices is to give POC a chance, if you will, to be the rich characters. But it is evident from this ask that you have not asked yourself what this entails. I want to ask you to critically examine the race and class intersections you’re creating here, as well as these kids’ roles in oppressive systems.
You explain that these rich POC are heroes and only have righteous reasons for leveraging their power.
But is your Black girl character aware of the potential disciplinary and/or legal consequences her jock accomplice might face while she has the resources to keep her hands clean? Are you?
Is your Asian character aware of how much of an abuse of power it is to “sic” a cop on someone, and the sheer amount of harm a criminal record or incarceration does to a juvenile with behavior issues? Are you?
So you want to put POC in positions of power for #representation.
Does it resonate with the group you’re representing?
Do you research and portray the unique ways race, ethnicity, class, and majority vs. minority status come together?
Or are you putting these characters in oppressive hegemonic roles for the sake of a power fantasy, on behalf of a group you're not even in?
To your question, you're not reinforcing the idea that "POC rule the world" because such a generalized belief does not exist. Instead, you're reinforcing:
The idea that society has “winners” and “losers.”
The idea that the problem with disproportionately powerful people is the lack of “equal opportunity” as opposed to the power imbalance to begin with.
The idea that those in oppressive positions of power need only have the right intentions to justify their use of it.
To be clear: that is not to say that you can't have jerk aristocrat billionaire millionaire crazy rich POC. Evil or mean rich characters are fun! I have some myself! You can even have rich characters who are gentle-hearted and well-intentioned, but you have to know the ways in which they’re privileged and decide how aware of that your characters are. That’s no problem.
But if you think that wealthy and powerful POC would have the same values and priorities as their poorer counterparts, you’re deluding yourself. There’s a reason why the quote “power corrupts” exists. There’s a reason why no matter where you look on the globe, there are historical dictators and tyrants.
If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.
~ Rina
I fully agree with Rina, and truly want to emphasize the last paragraph.
If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.
I don't think you need to aim to subvert or purposely make all the BIPOC rich and powerful and the white people poor and suffering. Add diversity and include upper class rich and class privileged BIPOC, sure thing! And you can avoid your fears of intentional subversion message by including rich and powerful white characters as well, even if they're not the focus of your story. Just their existence helps. You could also include middle-class characters of Color as well.
I’m writing a story with two sets of protagonists: A trio with a Black girl, a Latino, and a Vietnamese-American boy who all come from middle-upper class to ridiculously rich families, and a pair of white working-middle class sisters. They’re all heroes of this story. I’ve seen way too many rich white people and poor poc people in fiction, and I’m kinda getting sick of it, but I’m worried that by having the poc kids be rich and the white girls not so much, I’ll be reinforcing the idea that poc somehow rule the world.
The only time the rich kids use their status as leverage is when the Asian threatens to sic his cop dad on a bully (race unstated but I imagined him as white) picking on a freshman, and during the Black girl’s birthday party, when she pays the biggest jock there fifty bucks (And later says offhandedly that it was just what she had in her pocket) to chase off a creep hitting on her.
OP, have you ever seen the “diversity win!” meme before?
I understand that your motivation for these narrative choices is to give POC a chance, if you will, to be the rich characters. But it is evident from this ask that you have not asked yourself what this entails. I want to ask you to critically examine the race and class intersections you’re creating here, as well as these kids’ roles in oppressive systems.
You explain that these rich POC are heroes and only have righteous reasons for leveraging their power.
But is your Black girl character aware of the potential disciplinary and/or legal consequences her jock accomplice might face while she has the resources to keep her hands clean? Are you?
Is your Asian character aware of how much of an abuse of power it is to “sic” a cop on someone, and the sheer amount of harm a criminal record or incarceration does to a juvenile with behavior issues? Are you?
So you want to put POC in positions of power for #representation.
Does it resonate with the group you’re representing?
Do you research and portray the unique ways race, ethnicity, class, and majority vs. minority status come together?
Or are you putting these characters in oppressive hegemonic roles for the sake of a power fantasy, on behalf of a group you’re not even in?
To your question, you’re not reinforcing the idea that “POC rule the world” because such a generalized belief does not exist. Instead, you’re reinforcing:
The idea that society has “winners” and “losers.”
The idea that the problem with disproportionately powerful people is the lack of “equal opportunity” as opposed to the power imbalance to begin with.
The idea that those in oppressive positions of power need only have the right intentions to justify their use of it.
To be clear: that is not to say that you can’t have jerk aristocrat billionaire millionaire crazy rich POC. Evil or mean rich characters are fun! I have some myself! You can even have rich characters who are gentle-hearted and well-intentioned, but you have to know the ways in which they’re privileged and decide how aware of that your characters are. That’s no problem.
But if you think that wealthy and powerful POC would have the same values and priorities as their poorer counterparts, you’re deluding yourself. There’s a reason why the quote “power corrupts” exists. There’s a reason why no matter where you look on the globe, there are historical dictators and tyrants.
If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.
~ Rina
I fully agree with Rina, and truly want to emphasize the last paragraph.
If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.
I don’t think you need to aim to subvert or purposely make all the BIPOC rich and powerful and the white people poor and suffering. Add diversity and include upper class rich and class privileged BIPOC, sure thing! And you can avoid your fears of intentional subversion message by including rich and powerful white characters as well, even if they’re not the focus of your story. Just their existence helps. You could also include middle-class characters of Color as well.
Hello! I’m Filipino, so I guess I’m POC, but I fear that I may have been racist in naming my characters. I have these “two” characters who, spoilers, turn out to be the same person. They look totally different, including skin tone. The character in question was able to permanently change their appearance and they decided to change their skin color in order to completely shave off their old self. My biggest concern is that the light-skinned character is named after a word that could mean white and the dark-skinned character has a name that could mean dark/black.
The character did not choose the name “Black” because of their new skin color, but because of their special interest, which has to do with their new name. Would it be okay to keep the names? I’m worried that people would call me out for naming them like that, especially with the Meaningful Name scheme I have for almost every character. I’ve made some backup names for the light-skinned character just in case, but I’d rather keep the original name if possible. For further information: they didn’t actually change ethnicity and this all happens in a fictional Filipino-coded country within an alternate universe. Sorry for leaving out the exact names, it feels too spoilery for me! [Names were shared privately with mod team]
The general consensus from the mods that have reviewed this question is “why?”
Why is this character changing skin colors?
Is it solely for the purpose of later revealing they’re the same person after being perceived as two different people? You can make characters look like completely different people without varying skin color much or at all.
What about their
physical features
hair
voice
body type
mannerisms
personality
abilities
What’s the intent in the name/skin color changes?
It does feel strange to name the dark skin person after “Dark or Black” and when they’re lighter “light/white” without further context on the why. And it won’t go unnoticed by readers, who might question the emphasis on skin color too. If this character is Black, naming them what is essentially “black”, while other characters have names that have different meanings beyond their complexation, stands out. The same goes even for when this character is physically light-skinned.
Because whether dark or light…
skin color wouldn’t change their race alone (unless you are making them change race as well with the skin change?)
being hyper-defined by their skin color while others I assume are not named after their skin tone, stands out.
There’s a meaning for the names beyond their skin colors, you’ve explained. Whatever that reasoning is, I suggest you make it abundantly clear and emphasize said reasoning. Although, without knowing more information, I struggle to see how people would not associate your name choices to their skin color, even if given another explanation.
Black/white symbolism
Mind the ways you associate the character(s) when they’re dark-skinned vs. lighter skinned. For example, are their special interests “Darker” or more sinister when dark-skinned and innocent when light-skinned?
I suggest not going down the route of “Black is evil and white is good” symbolism by
avoiding it altogether
acknowledging to make a commentary about it
adding depth what dispels the notion that all black is bad / white is good
You might also use contrasting names that would have a similar affect.
Hello! I am a white Jewish enby writing a fantasy novel set in a far-future world where humans live under a magic dome to hide from monsters. In this setting, I included both white and POC characters because although I am most able to write from a white character's perspective, I also thought it would be really racist to write a world with nothing but white people. My MC is a white teen girl, and my main POC character is a half-white, half-brown teen. Neither are meant to be one specific race1/2
though the half-brown girl’s surname is Patel, which I gather is a very common Indian last name. The main POC girl is outgoing, lively and kind, but not flirtatiously so, though the white MC thinks she is very attractive. The half-brown, half-white teen’s main flaws are that she is a tad naive and holds onto grudges. Does this raise red flags for anyone? Are there any pitfalls you think I should be aware of? I’m feeling a mite out of my depth here. Thank you for your time!
Ambiguously Brown Teen in Fantasy Future (Surname Patel)
Please consult our South Asian naming guide to get started on outlining elements of your character’s background if you wish to make South Asian heritage relevant to this character.
However, given that this story takes place far in the future, I’m curious as to how heterogeneous human society has become. The existence of monsters seems to indicate a larger problem for humanity to collectively strive against. To that extent, I wonder if both your characters are racially/ ethnically mixed (As opposed to “white” and “half-white/ half-brown”) or whether designations like “white” and “brown” still hold the same connotations they do today as your question suggests.
I’m not advocating for a “colorblind” approach nor am I suggesting that you can’t simply use words like “white” or “brown” to denote appearance, but I would personally find the story more interesting if you gave us an indication of how/ if conceptions of race have changed. There are a number of classic fantasy and sci-fi works that depict these kinds of futures (E.g. Star Trek, Broken Earth, The Hainish Cycle) you may care to consult.
With regards to the following:
“The main POC girl is outgoing, lively and kind, but not flirtatiously so, though the white MC thinks she is very attractive. The half-brown, half-white teen’s main flaws are that she is a tad naive and holds onto grudges. Does this raise red flags for anyone? Are there any pitfalls you think I should be aware of?”
I know that doing a whole hecking lot of research if you’re writing a major character who is POC is important, but what about minor characters? I don’t mean to sound dismissive I’m just not sure if you should read a whole book or something to write a character who has a very small role.
Why Research is Important
I’m curious why, as a writer, you would want to write about characters from backgrounds with which you are not familiar if you have no interest in doing the research? Research helps us write about foreign topics by giving us the appropriate context needed to ground characters and settings, making their presence in the plot and interactions with other characters compelling. I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but is it reasonable for an audience to invest in a story if the writer can’t be bothered to care whether or not the average individual finds the story worth reading?
Please excuse my blunt response, but I wanted to make a point. As a consumer of media, I can easily tell when a creator cares enough to try and capture my attention, as I’m sure you can as well. Poor research creates dissonance, which disrupts your audience’s ability to engage with your work.
Let’s remove race/ ethnicity/ culture from the equation and look at this problem from a different angle. Many popular works in different genres of literature (Mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction) live or die by their technical accuracy, often requiring copious research. Think of researching diverse characters as another form of accuracy but for societies, norms and social concepts as opposed to physics, warfare or forensics.
If you find that the amount of work needed to research a particular character is exceeding what you are willing to do, I think there are several approaches.
If a character is minor enough that their background has no relevance to the plot, setting or other characters, they probably can be eliminated. Remember: poor representation is often the greater sin.
If the research needed for a particular background is too tiresome, perhaps the background can be changed to something more accessible. There is no shame in not being ready to integrate diversity into your writing at a rapid speed. Take your time.
Just write for yourself. Never share your work. Store your works in a secret room hidden behind a bookcase.
Hello! I have what I fear is probably a stupid question. I have a character whose great grandmother was Japanese. Everyone else in his family is white. Is he a poc? Not in a breaking him down to a percentage type of way, and there are other characters in the story who certainly are poc, and his mother was close to her grandmother’s culture, he isn’t so much. It just feels like I should know to capture him properly. Thank you!
Neither Japanese identity nor POC status can be assigned purely by blood quantums. There are a fair number of individuals in the US who identify as mixed/ Japanese/ Japanese-American who fit the above description. What is more relevant for the purposes of your story is how this character views their Japanese identity, how they interact with white culture in the US, and how both of these concepts affect their interactions with family and friends. Please research the concept of “white presenting” for further insight.
- Marika.
While in some ways, sometimes, I am white presenting, I’ve been pretty connected to my culture since childhood, so I’m pretty solid on my own POC label. I’ve reached out to other white-presenting Japanese peers for their experiences!
It’s a complicated relationship. My respondents were split on whether or not the POC label was right for them individually, although everyone identified as Japanese/Okinawan. The POC label is very much a matter of personal choice and how you want to be perceived. As Marika said, sometimes it’s less productive to talk about “who is POC” and more productive to consider how someone’s racial or ethnic identity changes how they interact with the world.
One common thread was how quickly they were racialized or invalidated the moment they opened up about their heritage.
A: [Regarding physical comments like “oh, I see it a bit now in your eyes”] I’ve always seen it as ego soothing, like “damn sorry I misread your ethnicity here’s something.” In the Western mind Asian people have particular eyes. Either that or the way people look at me shifts when I mention my ethnicity.
B: I recently had an experience where a professor said I couldn’t be a person of color because I was lighter than a paper bag and it caused a whole discussion that was frankly humiliating. I feel weird claiming the identity of POC because I can evade a lot of racism just based on looking white. I’ve noticed a lot of my experiences with racism are based on disclosure. I generally get treated as white until I mention being multiracial or Asian specifically, then people get weird.
Another common thread was feeling as though monoracial white people didn’t see the utility in identifying with the non-white culture at all, and pressured them to “embrace whiteness”:
A: I never got put into the Other category by white people. To white people it’s always been, “why are you so weird, just accept you’re white and move on.” I’m stubborn so people pushing against me meant I pushed back harder. My identity as an Okinawan-American is much greater than my identity as a European-American these days.
C: [It] made me feel so off-put. “Embracing” my whiteness was all me, on my own terms, using my own realizations. I’m fairly fine to say that I feel like I was bullied out of saying I’m Japanese openly.
They also noted that monoracial Asians also gate-kept them out of the community (an experience I share with A as well!).
A: When I mention something about my ancestry [to someone in the Asian-American community] to connect as a fellow Asian-American, I always get like, “wow really? I couldn’t tell, you must’ve taken more after your [white] Mom” or some shit. So it can be a sensitive topic for me. It does feel like the second I drop the fact that I’m Asian on another Asian person it’s like a test, like they gotta measure my Asianess.“
On a more hopeful note, they mentioned that they’ve worked to find ways to connect with their heritage or find a supportive community, and that it’s been rewarding.
A mentioned that the local Vietnamese-American community was welcoming, and also found that learning Japanese in university meant a lot for cultural connection.
B found that taking Japanese classes, going to Japanese cultural events, and sharing Japanese food with friends helped them connect.
C mentioned having a great time exploring traditional dress and kimono workshops, as well as buying old/vintage Japanese items to learn about them.
All of them mentioned that online nikkei communities have also been a great space to connect with each other, although they said there was a certain je ne sais quoi about in-person interaction that they greatly missed.
So, OP, I hope you can see from this that cultural connection and community are going to mean a lot to someone like your character, and you should represent that by giving him an interest in keeping up with his Japanese culture, even if it’s through the little things.
Also from my wonderful respondents is this message to any white-presenting Japanese person struggling with their identity (and this can apply to other white-presenting mixed folks too!):
C: I think you’ll build some confidence as you get older and that confidence includes not just your personality, appearance, but who you are. I fought to get into those Asian student clubs (failed), went on dates with some Asian people (failed), tried to make friends with certain Asians on the basis we were both Asian (failed), went to Japan and tried to connect with people (failed). You shouldn’t have to do all this to prove to others or yourself that you are who you are. All my Asian friends have entertained the "come over I want to make this recipe” or “let’s go see this Japanese pottery shop.” Find people who want to support you.
~Mod Rina
White-presenting & mixed Japanese followers, please feel free to use this as a space to share your thoughts. Your experiences are very welcome here.
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Hello! First of all thank you so much for this blog, it is very useful, interesting and instructive :)
Dark-skinned & light-skinned fantasy people
So I’m currently working on a fantasy story settled in an imaginary world in which there are basically two ‘levels’ of lands, one constantly exposed to the sun and closer to it, the other one underneath the first and exposed much less to the sun. I thought it would be logical for the population of the upper world to have darker skin, and the population of the downer world to have lighter skin. First I thought of making the upper world’s culture inspired by the Middle Age European culture, and the downer world’s culture inspired by different Indigenous cultures (specific ones depending on the environment they live in). But after going through this blog I think it’s quite a bad idea, since it could be seen as both erasure and cultural appropriation. Would you recommend switching? Like, having the dark-skinned population have cultures inspired by, for example, the Hausa culture or Indian culture, and the light-skinned population have cultures inspired by German or Scandinavian cultures? (The cultures would be various and would depend on the environment.) If yes I will obviously do researches for the cultures I’m not from and ask advices from concerned people as much as I can. But I’m not sure if it’s erasure to create a new culture inspired by an existing culture, without saying it clearly? Especially since this story would be an animated series, so there will be visual references to existing cultures.
Colonization
And second question, at some point the two ‘levels’ meet (they weren’t interacting before), and engage in a war, won by the upper world. Its population then settles in the downer world. Again, after going through this blog, I realized it could seem like I’m victimizing the light-skinned population, showing the dark-skinned population as oppressive, and creating a ‘reversed colonization’ situation. Would you recommend to completely rethink this part? If yes would you have suggestions on how the two ‘levels’ could meet without it being triggering or inappropriate?
So ! You are right about one thing : Middle Age Europe vs Indigenous culture is a bad take if you execute it raw, just like that. I think you’re not taking this problem the right way. Your question shouldn’t be “Which culture should I borrow for my worldbuilding” but “Which elements in my worldbuilding could be linked to existing cultures”.
Ask yourself : the top/bottom population, how do they live ? What makes their economy thrive ? Are there farmers ? What do they cultivate ? Which animals do they breed ? How do they raise the children ? What’s the education system ? Do they have a religion ? For example, if they cultivate corn, maybe establish a link with a culture whose food is based on corn. Of course, they should live in a climate where they can cultivate corn. See where I am going ? Consistency. It’s the key.
It’s not about “copying” an entire culture on your worldbuilding, but about finding what suits the world you created. Maybe you will have to take small bits from multiple cultures, but at the end of the day it’s what is going to make your world unique. The only thing important is that it should be consistent.
For the “meeting” part : I would advise you to take off the colonization part (it’s a really slippy road…). Meeting because children have found a way, explored and made friends with each other could be fun ! However, try not to make it manichean. There’s always a bit of apprehension when two nations meet for the first time, but I would suggest making their relations based on curiosity and allyship, not necessarily confrontation (even if some disruptive elements can happen…).
- Mod Lydie
I don’t think Indigenous/ Medieval Europe influenced match up is doomed from the outset. Rather I think it’s all in the execution. However, what matters to me more is the subsistence models of these groups. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the “below” world culture to be the more industrialized culture? After all, these are the people that live underground. Thus it follows that:
They would need technological advancements in lighting and tools for resource extraction as well as, I imagine, greater medical advancements to deal with the consequences of chronic Vitamin D deficiencies
They are better poised to extract subterranean raw materials like oil, ore, minerals and weird fungi that can be processed for making the aforementioned tools.
I also don’t see why colonization logically figures here. Take the elves and dwarves in LoTR who have very different approaches to living (hunter/ gatherer v. industrialist) and antagonistic relationships, but still don’t bother colonizing each other. I agree with Lydie that these groups can meet in a variety of different ways that don’t have to end in colonization. Remember: colonization is first and foremost done for money. Colonizing another society isn’t something people wake up one day and decide to do for fun. It’s a considerable investment in a nation’s time, military, civilians and resources.
Even the Catholics, for all their religious fanaticism, were primarily concerned with finding ocean routes for trade. Colonization happens when one side needs something the other side has, but decides subjugation and exploitation is more economically beneficial/ expedient than trade.
Returning to LoTR, the elves and dwarves both want and care about different resources, so they have no need to try and colonize each other. There are lots of ways to generate interesting dynamics and tensions between these two groups without bringing colonization into the equation.
My character is *the* personification of the in-book universe, and shifts through different human forms every reincarnation to represent that. The story is first person present, and I’m worried about writing her when she’s not white. The story doesn’t always take place in real-life-like worlds. Is it a cop out to only write her non-white in fantasy/sci-fi worlds where I can control all the culture and history? Can I write a POC character first person even then?
This is an interesting concept. Of course, whether or not it will work depends on how well everything is executed, but anyways, yes. Yes, you can write her as a person of color, regardless of whether it’s a sci-fi/fantasy setting or not. Just be sure to do your research about racial stereotypes. But as long as you make her a well-developed character, you should be fine.
—Mod Ixia
I definitely feel that keeping her white in real-life-like worlds is a cop out. I don’t know the exact criteria of how this “human form” is decided, but my first guess was culture, civilization, population, something like that, and the implications that only white people get to represent any of those things in the real-life-like worlds is troubling. Please carefully think through why your default is white in the first place, the only criteria where white people would absolutely dominate is “media representation of their importance”, anything else is far more debatable.
Also, let’s say you decided the personification of our current world is American, then why can’t that American be Black or Native? If the personification of the world a generation before was British, why can’t they be Indian? India was a British colony for like, 150 years, it was long enough even a century ago for there to be British people with Indian heritage. Also, China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, these are just a few nationalities I can think of with plenty of PoC who could represent the world.
Also, if you write your sci-fi or fantasy settings with a Character of Color, please avoid using Black/Native characters for any “barbaric” settings if there are any.
I’m working on a story currently that’s a slice of life horror story, all the main characters are monsters of some sort. Your blog’s tags has been a huge help to me so far but I just wanted to ask if you had any advice on writing characters of color who are just as much monsters as they are people. I’m avoiding certain things like Jewish vampires or native werewolves of course. Will writing them the same way as my white monsters be enough or do I need extra precautions? Thanks!
There absolutely are extra precautions, and I’d strongly advise you to go through the monster tag again for examples. Here are two I found off the bat: (1)(2). It’s a little more complex than just avoiding certain matchups. Also, on top of the monster form you choose for them, their personality traits and character arcs also matter. Try incorporating things that people of that identity actively want to read about!
I’d also advise you to re-examine all your POC characters and then send more specific questions about particular ones that mods of that identity can help you with.
Recently I keep seeing posts condemning people who write black and/or queer cops, because it makes the police seem more relatable/sympathetic to marginalized groups.So now I’m anxious about some of my characters.
Due to the nature of my story, I have a lot of cop characters, some of which are black or hispanic, some of which are queer, and some of which are both, with the most prominent one being a main character who is a black bisexual man.
I don’t live in the US and only have an outsider’s view on the issues and history regarding racially biased police brutality or attacks on minorities as a whole (not saying that it doesn’t happen where I’m from, it’s just different because of gun laws etc, and well, we didn’t have a Stonewall) and I’m doing my own research on these issues and trying to incorporate them in my story (which takes place in the US), but I don’t want to seem ignorant, or worse, like I support the police, even though I think some of my cop characters are genuinely good people.
The characters in question being PoC and/or queer is pretty important to me, but I’m wondering if I should change their race/orientation to avoid possible propaganda? If not, how can I successfully portray both factors coexisting?
I admit this question might be ignorant too but I grew up sheltered so I’d appreciate any help you can give me with this! Thank you very much!
On Non-American Police Forces
While people often focus on the racism of American police forces, the systemic racism of the justice system is visible globally. Canada has 40% of its prison population as Indigenous women, when we only make up 4% of the total Canadian population. Australia has similar numbers for its Aboriginal population. The UK incarcerates more brown and Black people than white people by a large margin.
To say that you are in a country without systemic racism in your justice department is to say you are ignorant of your own country’s justice system. Just because there are less deaths by police (because a lot of police in other countries don’t carry guns) does not mean the police are incarcerating people proportionally to the population.
Racism and colonialism is a global problem. Most police forces are relics of a colonial or imperialistic past. This means they’re echos of (often white, but not always, depending on the nationalism of the place in question) supremacy still resonating within the modern day. Xenophobia, colourism, and racism play a part in justice on a global scale. All of it needs to be examined, even if there aren’t police murders hitting the news on a weekly basis.
Media is Always Political
I don’t care what you’re writing, you’re writing something deeply influenced by politics.
Dystopia is rooted in police brutality and an authoritarian state.
Alien invasion sci fi is rooted in fear of colonialism happening to you, and sci-fi in general has a lot of colonialism undertones.
Cosmic horror is rooted in racism and an “unknown not-like-you” group making their homes in your home, with Lovecraft being a terrible racist even by the standards of his time.
The Pentagon literally funds military movies to be pro-American-military propaganda, and if you’re going to use the military in your movie, you can’t paint it in a bad light otherwise you can’t use any of the American military’s official symbols.
These ideas come from somewhere. And that “somewhere” is the world around you. Police have spent decades building up “copaganda” to paint themselves as a place that can do good if the right people are in charge. This is a very deliberate, very political act.
So trying to write something “apolitical” is not only impossible, but it’s going to side with the oppressors. Because oppressors make their position look like the neutral one. When it’s anything but.
Police As-Is Cannot Be Accountable
John Oliver breaks down how prosecutors and police work so closely together that they are coworkers, and absolutely do not want to put a bad cop on the stand because of not wanting to lose the trust of the police as a whole. This is not even counting qualified immunity, or the cultural perception that police are always the good guys thanks to decades of police media showing them as the good guys. This is what leads to acquittals and not guilty verdicts, because we as a society have been primed to believe police actions are always reasonable.
Alternatives to Police (For your story / characters)
Military (written critically)* (strikethrough explained)
Private investigators
Data scientists / hacker groups
Activist organizations
Doctor or nurse
Superheroes, Anti-heroes
Depending on what you’re going for, police as a profession are highly replaceable.
If you want a sense of brotherhood and community in a mostly-paperwork-but-can-be-violent setting, the military can be critiqued while also painting the military-industrial complex in a bad light. Soldiers join for a multitude of reasons, from escaping abuse to escaping poverty. Most are treated terribly, especially when marginalized.*(strikethrough explained)
Private investigators can also be an option, although these can be just as corrupt, there’s less systemic baggage towards the profession (and they often take on cases that police refuse to touch, such as gay men disappearing in the 80s and nobody except the families caring—Herb Baumeister is the killer that private investigators had to hand police on a silver platter before they even thought about it. The wikipedia article neglects to mention how much community pressure it took for police to act; Behind Mansion Walls does a better job of explaining the actual case progression).
Data scientists and hacker groups can also get similar “fight crime” feel, just with less shootouts.
Activist organizations can also be on the “solve problems make the world better”, where the antagonists are police and the FBI (look up COINTELPRO for data on this).
Even working as a doctor or nurse for Planned Parenthood can be extremely dangerous. But like with cops, doctor propaganda ignores the systemic racism exhibited by medical professionals, along with ableism and fatphobia (which in the west is rooted in racism). BIPOC receive much worse care than their white counterparts, and stories centering doctors should acknowledge this. Remember: unless the protagonist is explicitly the villain, readers are meant to sympathize with their choices and find their behaviour (mostly) reasonable.
And, of course, there are always superheroes who feel the law isn’t doing a good enough job taking care of actual criminals so they go out and do it themselves.
If you’re stuck on police as the only possible “good guys” when it comes to fighting for justice, then you need to do some serious examination of your pro-cop biases and realize how little they actually do in terms of community help.
- Mod Lesya
*I’ve since redacted my statements on the military as a good force to use instead of the police. I’ve kept this in for transparency, but you can see my updated view of the military here: Arab Character Joining Corrupt Superheroes, Police Parallels (second reply)
Is it the right time for this story?
This is one of those “Read the room” types of stories. There’s a lot here that can go wrong, or rather, be poorly-received from readers, particularly Readers of Color.
Police are murdering and assaulting Black, Indigenous, other PoC, and white citizens faster than our cellphone cameras can keep up with. The police brutality reports are endless. Look at current events, and the reoccurring protests over yet another Black person murdered at the hands of police.
You submitted this question before George Floyd’s murder on May 25 2020, which has kicked off one of the largest Civil Rights movement in history thus far.However, we’re in the midst of several other prominent police or authorites-killing-PoC cases. Actually, I’m confident no matter what time someone ends up reading this, there would have been another fairly recent murder at the hands of the police to talk about. Unfortunately.
These killings are dehumanizing, and can be seriously triggering. Combine that with the fact that there’s this push to continue defending and glorifying cops time and time again.
So ask yourself: Is this the time to write a story that serves to humanize police? A group that is historically and already given the benefit of the doubt and has the backing of the majority, the government, media, the president?
Diverse Cops - but aren’t they different?
Cops of Color, LGBTQA+ or otherwise, can be complicit in the system that systemically supports white supremacy.
Look up Sandra Bland, George Floyd, and the Black cop(s) involved in the cover-up or participating in brutality against them.
Or ex-cop Daniel Holtzclaw, who specifically targeted poor Black women to sexually assault.
BIPOC can uphold and participate in police brutality and often anti-blackness, so again; we can’t really look at individuals, but at the system as a whole.
Having diversity will not necessarily balance out the fact that police as a whole harass, abuse, brutalize and kill citizens at alarming rates.
A Systemic Problem
The police force has systemic issues of discrimination. It’s built into the fabric of the institution. It’s not a matter of good cops, bad cops. Especially if those “Good cops” stand back and watch the “bad ones" harm others.
Just recently in the writing of this post, Buffalo, New York cops were filmed pushing a 75 year old white man, Martin Gugino, to the ground. He bleed from his ears from the fall on concrete, is in critical condition, and the two cops who did it were suspended. The last I read, Martin Gugino has a fractured skull, a brain injury and cannot walk.
In the video, you can see one cop trying to help the man and being stopped by his fellow officer. He obeyed. So much for the good cops who step in, huh?
In response to that suspension, 57 officers resigned in solidarity with those cops. This goes to show that police can and do respond to the actions of their fellow cops.
Again, it’s not isolated incidents or only about individuals. It’s a culture, a systemic issue.
On that note, Cops of Color have certainly sued their employers for discrimination in the workplace. And there are plenty of fellow Cops of Color who have been unrecognized by their colleagues and faced manhandling and abuse at the hands of their fellow officer.
Writing this Story - Recognizing Brutality Exists First
I’d be wary of a writer covering this who didn’t have awareness of the racial and social climate of The Cops vs. Citizens. Be sure to get informed. A quick search for articles or stats from your country will provide a good start.
Police brutality is not just an American issue. It doesn’t necessarily have to result in murder for a problem to exist. Lesya talks more about global police brutality issues and the prison system. So before you rule it out in your own country, just because they have stricter gun laws, do your research to fill in the gaps of your understanding on these issues.
It’s also worth mentioning that cops choke, tase, assault and beat people so a gun isn’t needed to cause harm.
Is it propaganda to write Cops of Color characters?
Not necessarily. Cops of Color exist. Lgbtqa+ cops exist. However, you aim to make these characters sympathetic and relatable. That’s where it can be hit or miss for the readers.
Acknowledge the problems
This is one of those stories that almost has to discuss or at least acknowledge the issues that exist in the policing world. That includes brutality and excessive force, discrimination, murders, cover-ups, acquittals and so on. The more the story gets all intimate and cozy with your good cops, the more I’d want something that acknowledges systemic issues and how your cops are helping and reacting with that. You may not have a place to fit it all, but some portions of it should be acknowledged as the story shouldn’t predict it doesn’t exist.
Think about police brutality and corruption.
What do your cop characters stand for?
How would they react to a situation happening before their eyes or in their department involving fellow officers?
Balance the characters
Is this story about police officers, or include some but has a variety of other characters? Having more than a story About Cops would make this much more approachable.
It’d be nice to have a wider cast of characters that are 1) not police 2) not just villains or enemies of the police. This creates some balance and allows us to feel sympathy for other characters as opposed to feeling like we’re being pushed to only care about the cops.
Let me remind you of Lesya’s police alternatives for your storytelling:
Military (written critically)
Private investigators
Data scientists / hacker groups
Activist organizations
Doctor or nurse
Superheroes, Anti-heroes
Create another focal point
I’m much more inclined to read a story with a strong plot to carry us through the story. For example, solving a murder (Many police dramas), uncovering something supernatural (Sleepy Hollow before they ruined it), surviving the apocalypse (The Walking Dead; Hey Rick Grimes and Shane Walsh!).
A fluffy, domestic cop story meant to show daily life is one thing. A story that has a strong force or goal to carry the plot and doesn’t center itself on just the cops is another. And will be better received, in my opinion.
One story is about the cops and their lives.
Another happens to have cops that are mainly doing something else.
