Why Do I Have to Write About Being Black?

I don’t want to.

It’s really annoying when people ask me to why I don’t write about being black. Sometimes they don’t even ask, they make suggestions:

“You should write about being black in Canada. I bet a lot of people would love to read about that.”

“Why don’t you tell that story you told me about the time that teacher was racist to your brother?”

“If you want more attention, just talk about being black. That’ll make everyone’s head turn.”

On and on they go trying their best to convince me that the only way my writing will get noticed on a grand scale is to talk about being black. (Insert eye roll emoji here). They say that’s what makes me different. They say race is one of the hottest topics of the day and that I should use every advantage I can to be heard.

People actually say these things to me. Some people can even be pushy about it. But isn’t limiting me to writing about race defeating the purpose of the equality we’re fighting for? As I see it, we’ve been fighting for equal opportunity and that should include the opportunity to write about whatever inspires me. And just because race doesn’t happen to be the thing that fuels my writing doesn’t mean I’m any less “woke” than my peers who allow race to dominate their storytelling.