World Info

What is important is to make conscious decisions about when you draw attention to his ethnicity.

You might want to do this is when you introduce him as a new character or when you want to emphasize his ethnicity, for example when he is experiencing racism or when you pay attention to his facial features.

When his ethnicity isn’t part of the story it is not necessary to keep referring to Freddie as ‘The Asian/Indian Man’. This isn’t a hard rule, but a guideline. Writers don’t usually refer to Brian/Roger/John as ‘The White Man, English Man, European Man’ without a context where it makes sense to pay attention to their ethnicity or skin colour. Make conscious decisions for when you want to draw attention to Freddie’s ethnicity.

“Exotic” although used in Bohemian Rhapsody, is not an appropriate term to describe Asian peoples or cultures. It is also not appropriate for other poc.

Most important advice is: Don’t erase Freddie’s ethnicity.

This can be a tricky one for people, and from experience I can tell that people are truly trying, but often make mistakes.

Freddie is not African. Yes he was born in Zanzibar, which is now part of Tanzania. But Freddie’s ethnicity is not an African ethnicity. I have seen people refer to him as African. I understand where the idea comes from, but he is not African.

His family is Indian Parsi and their religion is Zoroastrianism. What does it mean to be Indian Parsi? Read down below.

Indian Parsis:

- “Parsis or Parsees, are an ethnoreligious group who migrated to the Indian subcontinent from Persia during the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633–654 CE” x

- Persia (now Iran) had Zoroastrianism as the state religion for many centuries in the ancient empire, it is in fact the oldest religions to still be practiced and laid the groundwork for the largest practiced religions today. There are wonderful YouTube videos and articles online about the early Persian empire, which was incredibly important and became a model for other empires. But when the muslim conquest of Persia began, many Zoroastrians migrated to India over several centuries to escape persecution.

- “Over the centuries since the first Zoroastrians arrived in India, the Parsis have integrated themselves into Indian society while simultaneously maintaining or developing their own distinct customs and traditions and thus ethnic identity” x

- The Parsis who migrated, naturally took their culture and religion with them.

The Indian Parsi community has its own distinct culture which includes its own distinct religion, but have been a community in India for many centuries and are not only influenced by Indian culture, but are a part of Indian society too.

Down below is a wonderful journal article about the Indian Parsi identity. (Click on the image for better quality to read)

- Parsi Identity by Rashna Writer in Iran Vol. 27 (1989), pp. 129-131 (3 pages)

Therefore, try not to overemphasize Freddie’s “Persian side” and neglect that he is also Indian. This happens often in fanfiction. As is explained above, Indian Parsis aren’t simply migrated Persians. Their history is much more complicated.

Further advice and resources:

- If you are white and want to write about racism, first ask yourself why you want to do this, question your own intentions first. This might sound vague, but the source in the next point explains why.

- If you are white and want to write about racism and go in-depth about other ethnicities, you should consume media made by people of colour. Read a book, articles, blogs, watch YouTube videos, or a podcast directly by people of colour. Without consuming the work by poc you cannot accurately represent racism. This source talks about the problems that arise when white people write poc characters without engaging with the work of poc. It uses JK Rowling as a problematic case study.

- An important aspect of Freddie’s background, is that he was an immigrant. This is an oral history source that talks about the experiences of Southeast Asian immigrants who came to the UK.

- This wonderful tumblr talks about everything representation, written by poc and of the specific ethnicities and religions. They do not have an Indian Parsi or Zoroastrian resource, but they do have Indian representation and general advice on representation and writing of poc characters.

Most importantly: Don’t take our word for it!

Use this as an impulse to do your own research if you want to write about racism and the experiences of Freddie as a poc. Don’t assume that you already know enough about racism without having experienced it. Don’t assume that another white author knows either.

Instead, research the works and histories made by people of color if you want to represent racism and experiences surrounding Freddie’s ethnicity more accurately.

🚨🚨🚨

A second COVID wave has taken out the healthcare system. There are no more hospital beds. There's an oxygen shortage. There's a critical vaccine shortage. The Central Government has thrown its hands up and is passing the baton to the State Governments to do what they can.

There are over 16 million covid cases. A record 330,000 new cases reported yesterday - comparable to the US at its peak. 187,000 dead as of today.

There is no plan.

Mass cremations are taking place. The cremation grounds are running day and night and they are short on wood. People are watching their loved ones die while waiting for a hospital bed, and then they're unable to give them the proper burial rights.

Hospitals are overwhelmed. Patients are being confined, two to a bed. They're the lucky ones.

We are on the verge of people dying in the streets.

This is the second-most populous country in the world. The largest democracy. A country that encapsulates over 15,000 years of recorded human history and has endured everything from famine to invasion to colonisation.

We might be at the end. This might be the thing that does us in.

People are dying.

People are dying.

People are dying and there is no plan.

More good news? Variants are popping up. A double mutation strain has shown up. It is resistant to current vaccines. This will not go away. This is the devastation they warned of when the anti-maskers were out protesting the minor inconvenience of covering their face in public.

My country is on the verge of an emergency state. Our government has failed us. This is as dire a situation as it ever could be.

Look. I don't do much with my life. I write fics, some of you have read them and that's pretty much it. I spend my days with my head in the clouds because that's where I like to be.

But two days ago, my grandmother tested positive, had to be taken to hospital and the ambulance caught fire.

She barely made it to the urgent care she needs.

So, here I am, using whatever meager platform I have to cobble this request together. Because I have to do something.

If you can, donate.

Or spread the word.