# so is a book racist if it doesn't explicitly mention that there are some minority characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555 "2013-04-13T01:02:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/41 "2013-04-15T03:19:25Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > That’s one thing I noticed about Robert J. Sawyer’s books; he pretty much describes the skin color of everybody, without assuming that white is the default. He’s talked about it several times on his site, like this article: [Is it racist to mention skin color?](http://sfwriter.com/2008/03/is-it-racist-to-mention-skin-color.html) Thanks – that’s cool. IRL I try to describe everyone by skin color first (even here where it’s 99% white) so that I am saying the equivalent thing every time – nice to see how he is able to do it in his work. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/42 "2013-04-15T03:31:03Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Thanks – that’s cool. IRL I try to describe everyone by skin color first (even here where it’s 99% white) so that I am saying the equivalent thing every time – nice to see how he is able to do it in his work. That seems a lot more racist to me than, like, _not_ doing so. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/43 "2013-04-15T04:30:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > That seems a lot more racist to me than, like, _not_ doing so. I suppose it depends on how it’s done, but why? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/44 "2013-04-15T06:20:26Z")
In Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”, (not the movie. Forget that POS) it’s slightly alluded to at the end of the novel that Johnny Rico is Filipino. I guess RAH just didn’t think it was all that relevant to the story. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/45 "2013-04-15T07:27:36Z")
Is Rico a common WASP surname? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/46 "2013-04-15T10:20:41Z")
Of course not. Unless the book explicitly mentions characters of one race (even by mentioning things like hair colour) and it’s incongruous with the setting. Otherwise, as long as it makes sense in context, the reader is free to imagine any race on any character. For most people this will be white, now, but that may not always be the case and isn’t true for books in some settings. > [@chorpler](#): > > I suppose it depends on how it’s done, but why? Because you might want to describe someone by their non-white race (the Indian-looking bloke, etc) as it’s the easiest way to differentiate them from an all- or mostly-white crowd, but it feels a bit racist to do so while not doing so for other ethnicities. Or you’re in an environment mixed enough that you might mention race/apparent race or skin colour whatever it is. Or you’re in that environment often enough that the habit carries over even when you’re not. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/47 "2013-04-15T11:04:58Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Wait… what? (the issue with another actor thing, not the here’s the new black guy thing) just my assumption - why else would a character in a small tight-knit group like that be sidelined for two seasons? if he were meant to be a minor character from the beginning, then him being the only black character, standing around with nothing to do, is a bit conspicuous. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/48 "2013-04-15T15:59:18Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > Is the reader racist for assuming that all characters are white unless stated otherwise? What the “problem” becomes, if it can be termed a problem, is when non-white children also see the characters as white, and end up identifying as white - because all of the cool characters are white, and all of the cool movie stars are white, and all of the cool TV stars are white, etc… How much of a problem it can be depends on the culture and the society. It is not racist to mention skin color either. A book is not racist, however, if it doesn’t explicitly mention ethnic characters. It might be a little bit ethnocentric, or most likely, the writer is just writing what they know. Why don’t we see more minority authors become popular, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/49 "2013-04-15T16:54:07Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > **Skald** made it quite explicit that he had not seen the movies and was not asking about them, so that wasn’t it. > > In fact, as one would expect, on the matter of characters’ races the movies followed the books quite closely (except that they gave a lot more screen time than the text would warrant to the black kid who did the Quidditch commentary). In the novel, his skin color isn’t mentioned (that I recall) but he is, FWIW, described as having dreadlocks. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/50 "2013-04-15T18:25:10Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Because you might want to describe someone by their non-white race (the Indian-looking bloke, etc) as it’s the easiest way to differentiate them from an all- or mostly-white crowd, but it feels a bit racist to do so while not doing so for other ethnicities. 😕 That’s why I mention race every time, so that’s it’s consistent no matter who I am describing. Race is a part of a basic description. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/51 "2013-04-16T16:37:16Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > 😕 That’s why I mention race every time, so that’s it’s consistent no matter who I am describing. Race is a part of a basic description. Yes. That’s what I said. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/52 "2013-04-16T17:02:08Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Yes. That’s what I said. Thanks – had to reread! ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555/53 "2013-04-17T01:07:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Is Rico a common WASP surname? It’s not, but then again, I think in 1950’s America, most folks would assume he was Puerto Rican, Latin-American, Mexican-American, or of European Spanish descent. Kind of clever, as Filipinos in the US military are a lot more common than you’d expect, in my experience (as in, Filipinos from the Philippine Islands, not Filipinos from LA, though I’ve run into several of them as well). In any case, Rico is given almost no background regarding his ethnicity or nationality, aside from being from Earth, in contrast to the considerable detail his fellow recruits get. The implication being that Private Rico simply doesn’t consider that his own ethnicity is any more interesting to the reader than it is to himself. There are a few mentions in passing to him speaking Tagalog with someone else in his squad, but no clarification that Tagalog is the language spoken in the Philippines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-a-book-racist-if-it-doesnt-explicitly-mention-that-there-are-some-minority-characters/655555.md?page=2)