When I became a crazed bibliophile in middle school, one of the first books I read was about a black girl and her family facing difficulties within and outside of their household. Shortly after that pages and pages of books unfolded before me, some focusing more on characters who were not POC, also known as people of color.
As I’ve grown older I’ve noticed the lack of main characters as people of color. Until recently though, I’ve picked up more books dealing with characters who were people of color who went on as much of an adventure as someone who wasn’t a person of color. Yet no matter which books my hands have managed to snag, whether focusing on young adult or adult fiction, a book’s synopsis and what the reader can expect is really the only thing I focused on.
However, with so much change in the world, we need more characters who are diverse. Characters who millions of readers can relate to and can find themselves easily in their shoes. Our world is beginning to take shapes which many people have never witnessed. People are beginning to voice what they feel more than they’ve probably done before, and it’s become something beautiful.
As a community, the book world needs to understand that reading isn’t focused solely on the features of a white character. That’s not to say we should stop using white characters as the main narrator, but it means women and men of color should realize that they too, can experience the dreams and adventures as the ones they are reading about. They should feel as though they can easily sink their feet, or mind for that matter, into the character's shoes and feel as though they are that character.
In most cases, readers are able to feel what the character is feeling and experience where the character is going. What better way to watch this world unfold with someone who has the same color skin that should feel just as appreciated as the next character in another book?
Allowing my mind to process what I’ve been witnessing has opened my eyes to how much has been absent in the literature world. As someone who is slowly submerging herself into other genres of books, I would love to see what the fiction world has to offer a character who has the same color skin as me. There’s been an influx in the number of authors who are starting to notice this difference. And when one person tends to notice, a domino effect begins to unfold and others start supporting or participating in the process.
Few readers around me have even mentioned how when they have to read a book which features a non-person of color they have to imagine someone with their own skin. This is where literature should step up and continue to showcase a wide range of diversity, so readers can feel. They can feel appreciated and understood.
Reading has become one of the most intriguing aspects this world has to offer, and people need to feel as though they are truly represented and not shunned from something they love to do so much.
