[edited Apr 1, 2006] Why do so many White people write about, record, etc., Black culture? Recently, I worked on the Princeville documentary with — surprise! — an all White crew. Nothing against them, that’s just the way it was. The director of the film, Ryan Rowe, is a linguist who basically studies the way Black people talk. I asked him once how many Blacks he works with while he goes around studying Black folks. Zero. Then tonight I’m watching War Stories, only because tonight’s segment was about the Tuskegee Airmen. Two people — Whites — who wrote a book about the airmen, Black Knights were featured during the show to talk about some of the things they talk about in their book.

Then a few weeks ago I saw the Negroes With Guns documentary, again produced by a crew of Whites! I swear…I think Chinese people might feel strange about a Black person writing about Chinese history, etc. I wish I actually knew of some examples of books, films, etc. created by Blacks about say…the early White woman led Suffragist movement or…non-Jewish Blacks writing about Jewish history…but I just can’t think of any examples.

Why is that? Do many Blacks feel like we are not as capable of telling stories from outside our perceived collective cultural heritage, as people who are actually part of that cultural heritage? If so, White people apparently do not feel this way. I guess many Whites feel like they are qualified to tell other people’s stories, even if the suffering they write about doesn’t directly affect them. When Whites re-produce Black history, they tell the stories from their perspective, and reap the benefits of any accolades, monetary gain, etc. that comes from that work, thereby enabling two things simultaneously: the remolding of Black history from a White perspective, and the placing of monetary gains from the telling of Black history, into White bank accounts.