“Write what you know” was a constant edict I heard at the writers conferences I attended as often as I could as a younger writer (and still attend). Once I became an acquiring editor at Amistad and started speaking at these gatherings, someone would raise their hand and ask me, mainly in reference to fiction, “I want to write about characters of color, but I’m not Black” (or fill in the blank) followed by, “I feel uncomfortable. What do you recommend I do?” Then and now, I recommend that one write to the human condition. Loneliness. Anger. Vanity. Pride. All universal feelings are not assigned a race. Why is a character uncomfortable in these emotions? When one removes conditions in recognizing humanity, writers can produce extraordinary results. Consider novels such as Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow, Richard Powers’s The Time of Our Singing, Rene Steinke’s Friendswood, and The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston.
Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Harvard University Press, 1992; Vintage, 1993) should be a blueprint for all writers and editors. Every now and then, someone will ask me, “Do you feel limited as an African American editor?” And I always reply no, because (1), that’s a major part of who I am, and (2), I’m honored to be in this role because I have the rare opportunity to share so many complex expressions of a community that is not often allowed to show its immense intelligence, resilience, and beauty to the world—I’m a conduit for that? I only say wow, every day, and sometimes several times a day.
—Patrik Henry Bass, executive editor, Amistad Books