cowabunga it is

Your perspectives matter. Your representation matters. You are not bothersome for demanding equal treatment in fandom. It is not your responsibility to make fandom more welcoming and inclusive to you. It is not your sole responsibility to create all of the Black-centered content. You are not "ruining" anyone's fun for demanding better for yourself, and anyone who says otherwise can go fuck themselves. Any fandom worth being a part of should have no room for racism in it.

Black people in fandom, you are wanted. You are needed. You are loved and appreciated. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

As always, when writing about sensitive topics/injuries/illnesses, we encourage everyone to research and tag works appropriately. This is to ensure that the whump community can remain a safe space for everyone, as well as assist writers in creating well-informed works that avoid offending people and stereotyping, romanticising, or sensationalising hard topics.

We have also added some additional links that may be useful when creating characters.

Below are some links to resources we and others found useful - we'd like to thank the wonderful members of our community for helping us with finding great resources.

Blogs/Tumblr Posts:

@cripplecharacters - A whole blog dedicated to helping people write disabled characters.

^ A Guide to Writing Disabled Characters

@writingwithcolor - A whole blog dedicated to writing and resources centered on racial, ethnic and religious diversity.

^ Stereotypes and Tropes Navigation

@creatingblackcharacters - Creating Black Characters *with intent!

Resources for Writing Injuries (Tumblr Masterpost)

Resources for Writing Sketchy Topics (Tumblr Masterpost - please note that a couple of links are broken due to the post being 7 years old, but many are still working!)

A guide to designing, drawing or writing characters who use mobility aids (Tumblr post)

Writing A Blind or Visually Impaired Character (Tumblr Post)

Independent Websites

Avoiding Stereotypes in Fiction: Characters with Mental Health Issues (WritersHelpingWriters)

How Do I Depict a Disabled Character Respectfully? (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Respectfully Depicting a Character Adapting to a Disability (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Writing Deaf Characters (T. Frohock, author.)

How to Write Deaf or Hard of Hearing Characters (Melanie Ashford, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association)

How to Write a Blind or Vision Impaired Character (AllWriteAlright)

If anyone has any additional sources, feel free to share them in the reblogs/replies!

POST CONTRIBUTERS - Thank you!

@psychologeek - Thank you for sharing some of the primary resources with us, it helped us a great deal :)

Dreamer Isioma (they/he; if you've heard the song Sunset Drive that's them! he's made some really good Afrofuturist-inspired stuff like Dumb In Love With You, & they've literally just posted a new visualizer at time of writing this)

Glenn Copeland (he/him; beloved Black trans man elder! he's also going to be starring in a children's TV show, a la Mr. Rogers! if you like more spiritual-influenced music his stuff is REALLY beautiful and gorgeous)

Anjimile (they/them and he/him; EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN TO ANJIMILE! Like You Really Mean It is a delightful song from his new stuff, Animal is a really really good dark song about the dehumanization of Black people & the whole album its from is amazing).

Malaika Mfalme (they/them; Good Man is from an album dedicated to their deceased partner Yasmin, & if you have Feelings about grief, the song Imagine will hit you like a fucking freight train)

Dua Saleh (they/them, xe/xyr, occasionally he/him; LOVE Sugar Mama, love the beat and the lyrics and the flow and the story (talking abt a rich white woman fetishizing Dua) and their new album's aesthetic is GORGEOUS):

MSOKE (he/him; a Swiss reggae artist! & the range!! really love his sound. also gorgeous man. chemically impossible to not have a good time watching Don't Give Up)

The Muslims (Quadr (she/her/he/him), Abu Shea (they/them) and Ba7ba7 (he/him); PUNK BAND!! these two songs' musics videos go together:)

paristtmpped (he/him; his website is so fucking cute and wellmade first of all! absolutely gorgeous groovy music. honestly if you like louis zong, you'd like him i think?)