Can a White Writer Write My Life Story?
I would trust five people who know me extremely well to write my life story, and no, none of them are Southeast Asian.
What is a white writer’s license in telling the story of a person of color?
I recently listened to a very interesting podcast called Culture Wars and the Untold Story of Lyndie B. Hawkins on NPR’s Hidden Brain, about the publishing world, and an identity crisis among the very white industry.
A lot of people might scoff at the question, and I will admit that I was just in the middle of driving to Home Depot exchanging a propane tank when it was on. And for context, I never even thought about it, but if a really good white writer did his or her research on my life and decided they wanted to write about it and do me due diligence, who cares?
I would be delighted, flattered, and honored to have my life and my story perhaps resonate with other first-generation Asian-Americans who were the first to be born in the country.
I’m also kind of lazy. I know how hard it is to write. It would be easier to have someone else do it for you especially if you know they’re going to do a good job.
But it hooked me in because of its case study: the author of The True History of…
