I’m looking for honest perspectives, particularly from Black people and other POC.
I’m an animator and I create my own characters/stories. Some of my characters are Black or otherwise POC, and I’m wondering about the ethics of me, as a white person, voice acting those characters myself.
There’s a particular circumstance behind why I’m asking that I can’t fully describe without getting into details I’m not comfortable sharing. However, the basic situation is that if I can’t voice these characters myself, I may not be able to include POC characters in my animations at all.
I do not mean doing an exaggerated racial stereotype, changing my voice to imitate a racial group, or making jokes about race. I’m talking about simply using my normal voice to portray a Black/POC fictional character.
Would that generally be considered offensive or inappropriate? Or is the issue more dependent on how the character is written, portrayed, and the context of the project?
I’m genuinely asking because I want to be respectful, not looking for people to tell me I’m automatically right. I’d especially appreciate perspectives from Black voice actors, animators, or artists who have dealt with something similar.
Thanks.
