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PlatinumGold2Bravo!'MURICA

If I see one more chocolate, mocha, caramel in a character description I'm going to scream. Like at this point if you're doing it it has to be on purpose. It annoys me because we'll get character descriptions like:

"The detective was a portly fellow. His face was marked with pot marks that betrayed his age that his jet black toupee was trying to hide. He rubbed the stubble on his face as he looked over the cold case."

"As I scanned the classroom I saw numerous kids at various levels of interest. Jen was one of the kids who was at level zero. Head down and covered by her brunette hair. Her skinny frame looked as if it was getting swallowed by the oversized desk. I went to wake her up."

"Jackson was a man that took care of his body. He worked out twice a day. He had clear smooth skin that a blemish wouldn't dare to sabotage. His only flaw was that he was balding. After growing out his beard he made the big decision to cut all of the hair on his head off. "

Which are cool they give you a quick sense of the character and let you easily formulate a mental picture of the character. And then we'll get descriptions like:

"Ebony was a mocha chocolate queen. Her caramel and cream complexion would have stopped any person in their tracks. Her gold hoop earrings swayed like her hips as she walked towards me."

Like BRUHHHHHH.

All these examples above don't mention race. They could technically be anyone. But it's like they are explicitly saying when someone is black, in a cliché way at that. And when someone is white they don't ever explicitly say. It's just assumed white is the default and everything has to be explained or addressed.

Sorry for the vent. It's just dehumanizing, and fetishizing. I get it you've read one book they described a white person as having milky skin. It's not the same.

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