Could I get a sensitivity read on a character I created before I knew this blog? I want to be actively anti-racist when I draw and write about xir and have been working on it by myself, but still am not sure.
Bio: Hei is a thousands of years old fae that came from earth. Xi can shapeshift (2, 4) but xir defaults to being Black, which is how xi was born. Instead of signifying gender, xir pronouns signal xir power; xi is one of the most powerful beings in xir universe and is capable of creating and destroying stars using dark matter. Xi has xir own solar system where xi lives with xir family, who xi is very protective of (2, 8).
Concerns: I am worried Hei because xi can shapeshift into animals, people are often afraid of xir, and xir name means "black/darkness" in chinese.
Hei (黑 = "black/darkness") is a literal naming convention since xi uses dark matter to power xir magic; it also contrasts with xir partner Guang (光 = bright/light) who is a light creating alien (2, 6, 8).
I use this convention with many other OCs (angel = Lux, mothman = Nox, teleporter = Door, eyeball = Oculus) but it comes across different with Hei because xi is also literally Black.
I could change xir name to 暗 An (dark, secret, hidden - but literarily used as "ignorant") which is used in the chinese word for dark matter, or I could do 能 Neng (ability to, energy [physics]) if Hei is an issue.
So I'm gonna tag in @writingnothanyu here, because from my perspective, if this story is in English, unless you're gonna tell the audience what those characters mean, the average western audience isn't gonna know. You told me xir name was Hei, Hei it would be 😅
TO ME, your character sounds fine. A bit on the nose with the naming. Like yeah I'll probably roll my eyes that the Black one is named Dark and the nonblack one is named Light. Not unique, but far from the worst I've seen it done (once read a story where the name was poorly translated as Brother Blackie and I just... Nuuuu). Not An, I would not be okay with a Black character being named "ignorant".
If you switched it up, that would be kinda cool! I personally favor stories that don't always make the Black person have to be the one with the night time and darkness abilities. Neng was also cool!