Yes, I’m a Black Writer — but I Can’t Write About Race Anymore

Living and documenting Black pain is too much of an ask

“Black writers are expected to write about pain. We’re regularly asked to suffer on the page for a voyeuristic White gaze, that feeds off cathartic writing from people of color. It allows the reader to consume pain without feeling guilty. This is a trend. These are words on a page. This is not real. Our stories, and the trauma that births them, manufacture high demand for stories that only see us through the lens of pain.” — Assad…