why turning characters black/brown is okay: a thread

black characters, especially as a main character/protagonist, rarely get representation as a whole. there are times where they are either background characters, antagonists, have little to no personality or characteristics at all, or a stereotype.

seeing all of the above in most shows not only makes us feel underrepresented or feel insignificant, but also it discourage us from being able to do the same things as someone with lighter skin can.

this is especially when black characters are villains; it almost feels like a punch to the gut knowing that some character creators see us as evil (this is often seen with darker skinned people).

does this mean you can't make villains or background characters black anymore? no! it's completely fine, but when the only black character you have is either of those two, you really need to reconsider this and put more diversity so we don't seem unimportant or evil.

with that being said, since we deal with this all the time, we resort to turning most characters black in order to see ourselves in that character; for once it feels more REAL that black characters are happy or confident or powerful, and not just aggressive or sassy.

"if you want more black characters why don't you make some?" sure! however, me and other black creators are working so hard to put out content that has more black characters in it, but it's hard for us to get into the industry, or the content gets little to no attention.

"the characters you are turning black are asian" you are insinuating that not all asians have dark skin. this mainly happens with anime characters and it sucks that some people see asians as only lighter skinned. that goes for any other ethnicities!

"why can you turn characters black but cannot turn them white (if they aren't already)" white people have enough representation in media. black characters are often seen as badly written characters but if that character were white people would go crazy for them. that hurts.

a while ago i made a redraw of naruto, and he is black in this piece! when i posted this, it positively affected some black people; i've gotten comments about how he looks like them or that seeing that type of representation makes them happy!

people being happy about seeing their favorite characters being black in edits are very good to see, but it makes me sad bc there aren't much of actual black characters in media, yknow. :(

overall, i think the industry needs to accept more black creators so that way we can see this representation a lot more! please support other black content creators and give them feedback, it would mean a lot to them!!

also!!! black people, feel free to tell me how you feel abt this or add onto the thread! also you can share your edits/art of black characters :] have a good day