Reading While Black

I came across Dona Sarkar’s name in the Seattle Weekly article that passed through the romance blogosphere last week. Intrigued by the title of her book, I of course, Googled her. How To Salsa In A Sari is, according to her website, “the story of Issa Mazumder and Catalina Morena, two arch-enemy teenage girls who must learn to put their differences aside and accept a life together after their single parents decide to marry…making Issa and Catalina step-sisters.”

Sarkar’s book is being released under the Kimani Tru imprint, which shows the uneasy way an author who is not black and is not white–and doesn’t write white characters–fits into the publishing game. Based on what I know at the moment, (Barbara) Caridad Ferrer’s YA novels featuring characters of Cuban descent is published by MTV/Pocket. Kim Wong Keltner, whose books starring the slightly sardonic Lindsey Owyang I thoroughly enjoyed is published with Avon A, as is Sonia Singh. I do agree with that Seattle Weekly article when the topic of non-black minorities within the genre navigate crops up. African-American imprints were borne from publishers’ sudden realization that yes, black folks do read, and further exploded with the success of Terry MacMillan, Eric Jerome Dickey, Zane, et al, but what about other non-white and non-black ethnicities? With an apology for making a blanket statement, I theorize that the lack of desire or clamor for imprints, or even just a larger slice of the pie, from non-black and non-white Americans is because for the most part, they’ve “assimilated”, or assimilation is the goal.

Because of slavery and Jim Crow, blacks formed a separate culture that existed within American culture, and as a result, we’re more adamant about having our “own” things because to be honest, a lot of black Americans view white Americans with suspicion and mistrust. However, with a growing Hispanic population (16% compared to 13% for African-Americans), will this soon change? Will Hispanics/Latinos want their “own” imprints etc that reflect themselves and their culture within the context of mainstream society? What of Asians? Or even Muslims of all ethnicities? Or will black Americans continue to have their “own” things because of past hurts and resentments? I think I’m rambling here, but I do wonder whether using every opportunity to separate has more cons than pros, or is it a somewhat “wise” move in the wake of Jena Six, nooses and Buckwheat? For non-blacks, who view assimilation as the key to being “American”, being immigrants, does it have more pros than cons in the scheme of just going to the romance section and not having a separate imprint for your own ethnicity? Or is there a bit of resentment that your voice is “smaller” than the African-American voice?

I don’t know…I struggle to reconcile the history of black Americans with how I live today, while also wanting to understand the voice of people whose history in America is a lot different than my own and deciphering how it fits into popular culture…