On Race and A Fighting Chance

So I converted this from a ranty blog post that I wrote and I wanted to clean it up because it's important to me. And the fact that it even came up as peculiar left me slightly unsettled. Unsettled enough to wonder if I am really interested in being a part of something where the dialogue on race would be one on skin tone rather than why nonwhite characters are nearly nonexistent in books marketed to mainstream.

As for A Fighting Chance's cover, a photo editing effect was applied to the original B&W stock photo used, to lighten darkened areas of the photo. But no matter because the racial identity of another cannot be presumed from skin tone, perceived skin tone in a B&W photo, or photo effects in a B&W photo.

In any case, Jesse is biracial: Biracial people, of a black parent and a white parent, like Jesse, run the gamut of skin complexions. For reference, see Rashida Jones, Alicia Keys, Vanessa Williams, Wentworth Miller, Meghan Markle, Bianca Lawson, Paula Patton, Misty Copeland, Jesse Williams, Maya Rudolph, for examples. A belief that someone of black and African American ethnicity on one side would only have their skin complexion manifested as one thing and not others is gravely misinformed. You cannot always determine from skin tone the exact makeup of someone's ethnicity or "race." And it certainly should not seem weird or peculiar when they don't fit narrow racial boxes. But I suppose it speaks to the way racial differences are constructed in our society. That is to say....made up based on skin tone.