![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Rebecca Walker
Feb. 18th, 2009 10:26 pmI just finished reading Rebecca Walker's memoir Black White and Jewish and I freakin' love this woman! If you don't know, Rebecca Walker is the fabulous daughter of African American writer Alice Walker and Jewish Civil Rights lawyer Mel Leventhal.
I read Black White and Jewish to gain insight into the life of a racially mixed girl because my protagonist in the screenplay I'm writing is the offspring of a Caucasian Mother and an African American Father. Ms. Walker's book has provided a world of insight on what it's like to straddle two heritages. Let me just say, Middle School is bad enough without having black girls threatening to beat you up for "acting white" and white girls treating you as "suspect." There is much more I'd like to read/study/watch/learn in order to make my character more believable.
This whole RaceFail 09 or The Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom thing really put a damper on my creative energies, and I've been doubting my "right"? to tell a story through a racially mixed girl's eyes and I've even considered taking the the easy way out and just making this character white.
But damnit! I want racial and sexual diversity in this screenplay.
What gives me the right to tell this story through a racially mixed girl since I'm white as the day is long?
My answer: I can imagine whatever I want to imagine. And from my imagination I can create whatever I want to create.
Whether or not it's believable or good is another thing entirely.
But, GET THIS! Rebecca Walker offers a Manuscript Consultaion Service. And sure, it's probably expensive as fuck, but maybe I can get "The Boyfriend" who believes in me (right honey?) to pay for it so that when I'm a successful screenwriter shacking up with Chace Crawford in some artsy Soho loft he can sue me for monetary compensation since he footed the bill for my consultation with Rebecca Walker right before I won that Oscar and made my millions.
One really good thing that has come out of the racefail dialogue for me is the discovery of this link on white privilege. I thought I was pretty up on my white privilege awareness, but reading this has opened my eyes to a lot more.
I read Black White and Jewish to gain insight into the life of a racially mixed girl because my protagonist in the screenplay I'm writing is the offspring of a Caucasian Mother and an African American Father. Ms. Walker's book has provided a world of insight on what it's like to straddle two heritages. Let me just say, Middle School is bad enough without having black girls threatening to beat you up for "acting white" and white girls treating you as "suspect." There is much more I'd like to read/study/watch/learn in order to make my character more believable.
This whole RaceFail 09 or The Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom thing really put a damper on my creative energies, and I've been doubting my "right"? to tell a story through a racially mixed girl's eyes and I've even considered taking the the easy way out and just making this character white.
But damnit! I want racial and sexual diversity in this screenplay.
What gives me the right to tell this story through a racially mixed girl since I'm white as the day is long?
My answer: I can imagine whatever I want to imagine. And from my imagination I can create whatever I want to create.
Whether or not it's believable or good is another thing entirely.
But, GET THIS! Rebecca Walker offers a Manuscript Consultaion Service. And sure, it's probably expensive as fuck, but maybe I can get "The Boyfriend" who believes in me (right honey?) to pay for it so that when I'm a successful screenwriter shacking up with Chace Crawford in some artsy Soho loft he can sue me for monetary compensation since he footed the bill for my consultation with Rebecca Walker right before I won that Oscar and made my millions.
One really good thing that has come out of the racefail dialogue for me is the discovery of this link on white privilege. I thought I was pretty up on my white privilege awareness, but reading this has opened my eyes to a lot more.
