Dark and Light-skinned Characters, Black Villain and Avoiding Colorism
I’m writing a book that happens on many different planets. On the main characters home planet, the light colored people and the dark colored people live in separate places of the planet that are far away from each other. The government on this planet is trying to create the perfect human, they don’t care about skin tone, they want to create a person who has the best skills to survive in any situation.
They put 4 light skinned kids and 4 dark colored kids from each planet and put them through competitions to judge their skills. Each person was chosen for their individual talents. The government, called the Ward, has power over all the other planets and they suppress the cultures. The main character learns about all these different cultures as she goes through the competitions and decides to help them get away from the Ward.
My question is what is the best way to portray this without making it seem like the light colored people are the only people that can run the government and the dark colored people are only good at a few things. There is another person that is fighting against the Ward to make life better, but he does it in the wrong way. He blackmails these people into helping him, but the person is never seen. He sends out one of his workers, a dark skinned man, but I don’t want to make him seem evil because he’s black. How can I do that??
First of all: sorry for the long wait! You’ve got an interesting concept here which deserves some extra attention. It’s something which holds a lot of potential to address some sensitive and even taboo subjects and make people think while reading a thrilling story. It’ll also be a difficult project to write and could become a heavy read. Good luck!
The best way to avoid being colorist in your writing is to fully develop your characters, give them agency and be respectful in their development (their talents, characteristics, etc.). When you write them don’t write one group better than the other. When The Ward is being colorist towards them, or anyone for that matter, show through your characters or narrative that this is problematic.
On Fighting The Ward The Right/Wrong Way
I’m assuming from the way you wrote it that this Black person fighting The Ward the “wrong” way that he is a villain in your story, but I wonder. Is he really? To explain my thoughts as clearly as possible, I’ll begin with The Ward.
The Ward is your main villain. They are oppressing people on several planets, suppressing cultures and aspiring to create the “perfect human”. You cannot pretty them up. They are evil to the core. When “perfect human” comes into play, it’s an automatic invite for racism, ableism, sexism, etc. The whole works. It’s eugenics. That is why they will care about the people’s skin color too. As scientists, they will think about how the amounts of melanin will affect the person in question in any given situation, since it determines at least in part how well they can handle direct sunlight (as well as skin cancer hazards, etc.). Remember that these people from The Ward don’t look upon their test subjects as people, as human. No, they see them as numbers, as things, as test scores, as a statistic.
So, in fighting someone/something like that, is there really a wrong way? There probably are ways better than others, but they’re not always accessible to people. Plus, sometimes only the “wrong” ways will get you anywhere, because oppressors won’t listen unless they are forced to.
When portraying this Black man, don’t write him as a villain. Write him as a hero (or maybe an anti-hero if you will), because in the end he is just that. And don’t use any black=evil symbolism, since it’ll add to him being perceived as a villain by your readers. You’ll find more tips in our villains tag or search “black villains” on our page.
Some other things to think about
I don’t know what type of competitions you’re writing about, but how are those talents chosen in the contestants? Are they intensely screened? What exactly are they looking for, and what are they trying to leave out?
I trust you will deal with the racism respectfully, but I’d also like to point you in the direction of the ableist aspects. In a lot of dystopias and other stories which deal with eugenics people forget about disabled and mentally ill people. They exist and deserve to have a share in these stories because they are about them too. They deserve to live just as much as everyone else.
So where are the disabled/mentally ill people in your story? I assume that they won’t get picked for these competitions, so what happens to these people? Are they left alone on their home planets or is something done to them? What if someone becomes disabled/mentally ill during the competition? What then?
Please give them a voice.
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