Low Availability and Whitewashing of Books with Diverse Characters Negatively Impacted Black Readers Seeking Alternatives

One night while doing my usual browsing of the entertainment news site Buzzfeed, I found a post titled “My 2015 Reading List Includes Nothing Written by White Men.” Intrigued, I read it and saw that the author (who is a Black female) decided to take this challenge due to “the over-representation of white male authors,” which caused her to read only those types of books.

When I saw this challenge and its reason, I applauded her taking the challenge because I can relate to her reason for doing so. Until last year, I read very little fantasy fiction featuring people of color because I did not know how much existed. All the fantasy fiction novels I’ve read featuring POC, I’ve had to search for them myself using the Web.

The first fantasy book I read with a person of color, I found through the site Goodreads. Three years ago, I did a search for YA fantasy books with Asian mythology and found a list of books based on Non-Western mythology. I ended up reading the book “Eon” by Alison Goodman and enjoyed it so much that I read its sequel, “Eona.”

The main reason I wanted to suddenly read YA books with Asian mythology was because I was tired of reading fantasy books with white characters. While some of my favorite fantasy books did involve white characters, I started to see the same old plots and characters coming up, especially after the popularity of the “Twilight” series.

The other reason was because I am a Black and Asian woman who grew up being exposed to Asian culture and Japanese anime. Somewhere between watching a dragon dance on a Chinese New Year video and learning about the Rabbit in the Moon myth that inspired Sailor Moon, I had developed an interest in Asian mythology and folklore. However, the same could not be said of African mythology and folklore.

Until last year, I did not know African mythology and folklore existed, let alone Black fantasy authors. Just as with the book “Eon,” I discovered Black speculative fiction and African mythology through the Web. As I did so, I wondered why I didn’t see any Black speculative fiction mentioned in popular culture or mainstream media.

On top of the lack of exposure, diverse books featuring people of color face another problem in mainstream publishing known as whitewashing.

Read more from Latonya Pennington at Black Girl Nerds

Michelle Rodriguez Made Some Controversial Comments — and She Left a Few Things Out

Michelle Rodriguez is wrong — and right — in her recent comments on race switching in superhero stories. But, both her initial comments and her revised comments leave quite a bit of the story of the role of diversity in the world of superheroes untold.

“It’s not ‘stealing’ when creative minds look at a well-known story and ask, “what if?” or even better, “why not?” If a group of astronauts can venture into space and get blasted by an anomalous force that turns them into people who can stretch beyond belief, become invisible, burst into flames or become the equivalent of living rock, certainly that weirdness can happen to Black people. Especially when racial identity is not key to the story.

Stealing would be systematically casting white actors to play Egyptians without ever thinking about offering the parts to equally brilliant actors of color. Then, only casting actors of color when there is a need for a terrorist, a servant or, ironically, a thief. That part Michelle, admittedly, got wrong.

What she got right was that the time is long overdue for superheroes who look like half of the population (women) and the ever growing number of Black and brown people in this country to have the opportunity to tell their stories.

Heroes that have a different perspective, fantastic backstories and complex villains. Heroes with awesome powers and trials to overcome and, of course, that overwhelming call of duty to save, defend, unite, etc. Maybe she didn’t know – and that’s OK. But not knowing actually illustrates the problem – these characters and stories ARE out there and doing well, but their creators simply don’t have access to the platforms and power to push them into the mainstream.

Now, let’s be clear. It IS lazy to simply gender or race swap in lieu of creating a new hero or focusing on the thousands of characters out there that already exist around which a new franchise can be launched. It means looking at the characters and the thousands of indie titles that are creator-owned that have been filling in the gaps for multicultural audiences for YEARS.

Since last summer, while directing episodic TV episodes, I have been traveling the country on a book tour for my graphic novel series, “Legend of the Mantamaji.” I have seen people of all races and ages excited to see a well-drawn, thrilling story with multicultural characters. At the 2014 New York Comic Con, librarians exclaimed their “kids” (library patrons) would go crazy over my novels. That’s not to brag by any means – it’s to show that the need is real, the audience is willing and a multitude of creators and fantastic stories are out there. The only people playing catch-up are those who actually greenlight the shows and films.

It sounds silly, right? All of this angst over comic books? But think of it this way – comic books and superheroes represent wish fulfillment for people of all ages and backgrounds. We all want to be the hero or the person who makes a difference. When a kid throws a sheet on her shoulders, slides her brown curly hair into a helmet and pretends to save the world, does she see herself defeating the bad guys or does she imagine that she’s a white male to accomplish the deed? What does it mean to all kids and kids at heart when the only toys you can find at Christmas are of the white male characters in your favorite movies? That the women characters aren’t important? That the characters of color don’t matter?

Beyond altruistic reasoning is what really lies at the heart of the matter – money. It’s a fact that films with diverse casting do better than films that lack diversity. It’s a fact that women now make up close to half of the comic convention attendees and that women account for $7 trillion in consumer spending (and those are 2012 Nielsen numbers). African-Americans are projected to have $1 trillion in their buying power bank in 2015. The same goes for Hispanics, and Asian Americans are inching toward $1 trillion. Native Americans have seen their buying power increase 149 percent since 2000.

The money is there, and smart money says that if the full resources of a studio are put behind a great film with a great story and diverse casting that it will be a hit. It just makes sense – and maybe with more Hollywood creators joining the voices of indie creators and fans, we will be able to position ourselves to greenlight these projects – because it really is time.

As an episodic director, Eric Dean Seaton has directed 195 television episodes of 38 different shows, 18 music videos and two pilots for Nickelodeon, as well as two pilots for Disney XD. He has also directed episodes of the NBC/Warner Bros. comedy “Undateable,” TBS’s “Ground Floor,” BET’s “Let’s Stay Together” and “Reed Between the Lines.” “Legend of the Mantamaji” is his first graphic novel series.

Yes, Black People Survive the Apocalypse

Television director Eric Dean Seaton continues to break stereotypes of African-Americans in science fiction and fantasy with his third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” graphic novel series.

When people think of superheroes and science fiction, they often imagine the strong chiseled features and extraordinary powers of white male characters. A two-time NAACP Image Award nominee, Seaton wants to remind comic book and sci-fi fans that Black people can be superheroes, too. With the launch of his third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” series Feb. 11, Seaton hopes positive representation of people of color in comics will go a long way to shatter stereotypes about Black involvement and interest in science fiction and fantasy.

“Science fiction and fantasy stories give people of all ages something to dream about. What does it say to children when the only heroes they read about are white?” said Seaton, whose television hits include Disney’s Austin & Ally, NBC’s Undateable and Nickelodeon’s Bella and the Bulldogs. “Black people do survive the zombie apocalypse, people of color exist in the future. They don’t have to be the first person the monster eats. And our interests go beyond civil rights and slavery. Our history is incredibly important, but so are our dreams and creative imaginings.”

The third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” series finds Elijah Alexander, the last of the mystical knights known as the Mantamaji, beaten and left for dead. Detective Sydney Spencer has just figured out who is behind the mysterious happenings of a new crime ring and that knowledge has cost her dearly. Time is running out to stop the sorcerer, Sirach, who is hell-bent on controlling space, time and reshaping the world in his image.

“One doesn’t have to wait for the ‘big two’ to offer crumbs of diversity when there are great new franchises like ‘Legend of the Mantamaji’ that often put them to shame,” Alex Widen, Brooklyn comic book expert for Examiner.com, said. “This third volume acts as a perfect bookend to this tale of ancient warriors and sorcerers, and one can only hope that there are more legends to come.”

Seaton’s successful series began with the first two volumes in the series being named among the “Top Graphic Novels of 2014” by Examiner.com and Atlanta Blackstar. With Book 3’s release, the early buzz points to Seaton showing no signs of stopping.

Terreece M. Clarke is a freelance writer/journalist for a variety of magazines, newspapers and websites and a rocking’ wife and mother of three. Follow her on Twitter: @terreece!

The BMW i8 Is the Future of Cars, and It’s Very Bright

The i8 is BMW’s latest supercar, able to go 0 to 60 in about 4.4 seconds with its hybrid electric/gas powertrain. The i8 looks like a Hot Wheels car, handles like a supercar and is as expensive as a high-end Porsche. With a starting price of $135,000, this isn’t the car for everyone. It’s actually a gateway into BMW’s other hybrid, the cute and cheap BMW i3, a shorter, sporty runaround that BMW is touting as their answer to crunchy hybrids from Honda, Nissan and Chevy. TechCrunch senior editor Matt Burns reviews the 2015 BMW i8.

Source: Tech Crunch

Will The Tech Revolution Create Vast Opportunities for Women in Africa?

Technology is changing the African continent, and Akilah is at the forefront of the tech revolution.

Many of our young women touch computers for the first time when they arrive on campus. At Akilah, they learn about computers, programming, and mobile technology — the skills to emerge as pioneers and leaders in what has long been a male-dominated field.

Source: TheAkilahInstitute