Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

Han, Lando, Karrde, Booster? Boba, Jango? I'm not really seeing the similarities, unless we're using a very broad (and non-heroic) definition of fringe.

 

If you are looking for a fantastic example of a person of color in Legacy that is a good role model, look no farther than Anj Dahl. Hotshot CF9 Crossfire pilot and the first known female commander of Rogue Squadron. I was so very pleased when they promoted Anj Dahl to Rogue Leader following Jhoram Bey's promotion to Stazi's second in command.

--Adm. Nick

 

I think in this case it was Pestage and Piett, though don’t ask me for details, I literally just skimmed through the first 5 lines and immediately fled the site.

 

Yeah I think that was me. Though obviously I'm not trying to excuse lazy and damaging stereotyping either. I think one of the things to take into account here is the scope of Legacy. It was always going to be largely about Cade, as a scoundrel in a callback to the grungier side of the galaxy that the OT introduced, (with the other largest section being the Felpire). Which isn't to say that we shouldn't think about this stuff, or that it doesn't play more poorly in the context of the entire EU than it does within the context of Legacy itself, but it's a story about criminals from the start. I don't think blanket refusing to include anything but white folks for fear of offending is really the answer in a situation like that. You can't make Jariah's character not-a-criminal, and I'm not sure making him not-black would be worth it. For it to be worth it, you'd have to think that the harm he does as in an initially stereotypical role isn't worth the positive fact that he's a detailed, well-rounded character who's clearly written with care and attention. (Although, of course, if you disagree that he comes across as a complex character with agency who is respected by the text, then that would explain our different reactions).

Another thing is the context of Legacy itself. Skull Squadron has one several members which are from ethnic minorities. While an alien, Wolf Sazen has dark skin in human tones and I'd argue falls into that category of humanoid aliens like Ki Adi Mundi or Adi Gallia that are likely to be associated with the racial identity of the actor playing them. I think that Sinde and Dare of the IKs had darker complexions?

I mean, even THOUGH I'm saying all of this, it's not like they took the opportunity to make Cade or Marasiah anything other than white. Or even Draco, to make a clear statement about the ongoing Imperial line. I was honestly surprised (and impressed) that they let the last Skywalker run off into the sunset with an alien.

I'm not even really arguing that there's not a fair point to be raised about Syn's situation. But I do think in the context of all of the above, he's a good example of a situation where the character transcends the stereotype, and an example of where refusing on principle would have done nothing but ensure another white dude existed in the universe instead of a really interesting non-white one.

 

Until the sheer awesomness that was GAR STAZI appeared. It's no mistake that after his first appearance, originally intended to be a one off, he became one of the main supporting cast and a fan fav.

So say we all!

--Adm. Nick

 

I do disagree, which I suppose does account for a large part of the difference.

 

We actually had a conversation about Sinde and Draco on the temp board. Nick, you did the Legacy score - do you remember what we decided on those?

 

Don't forget that Luke was a woman at some points in the script and the original actor Lucas wanted for Obi-Wan was Asian.

Imagine what the EU would be like today if that had been the movie that came out...not a White Human Male amongst the main heroes.

Or would it have been too ahead of its time and not been a success at all? Even Red Tails made executives nervous because of its lack of a white male protagonist, and the seventies were worse.

 

Not just any actor, either - Toshiro Mifune.

 

That movie would never have come out. He barely got funded properly as it was.

 

The inevitable eventual remake, however, is another story entirely.

 

In my scording, both Treis Sinde and Sigel Dare were considered white humans. Some folks thought they were tanner than others, but then again white people are not all one shade, or is any other ethic group. Some said that Treis Sinde looked Middle Eastern, IIRC. Sigel Dare has a southern European look to her as well.

--Adm. Nick

 

It's funny that comics can almost be harder to judge than novels; we know Kerra's intended look thanks to JJM, but in the books she's gone from Idina Menzel to Halle Berry.

 

She seems to also have done a brief stint as Michelle Rodriguez in the Escape arc

 

Didn't Jania get bumped up to Rouge Leader early in CivWar2?

We meet Han at the point that he gets out of the drug-running trade, and Lando after he's gone respectable. Karrde, as I still picture him, is a dapper crime lord, not a street thug. But I think Syn would look right at home in the Mos Eisley Cantina or Jabba's Court.

 

Yeah, my take on Sinde was that he was black. I never even thought of him as being another skintone until someone brought it up here. None the less to me he's definitly not white. I kinda see Sam Jackson from Black Snake Moan there.

 

In this pic, he doesn't look African American to me.



Tan, not black.

--Adm. Nick

 

Middle Eastern is my feeling. Even in his darker interpretations, it seems like a different tone of brown than "African" would be.

 

How about we just copy-paste the last time we had this discussion?

 

Heh. Someone should just dig up John's A&A thread and ask him.

*nudge*

 

I think Sinde looks more Middle Eastern. I'd disagree with Becca that Draco's white, too -- he appears Hispanic or perhaps otherwise Mediterranean to me.


And while Kol, Cade, Nat, Roan, and Sia might have been white, we do appear to get our first minority Skywalker descendant in Legacy -- Roan's cousin Mohrgan Fel. So I'd argue that all of our senior Imperial Knights so far have been minorities.

 

And so it was done.