Black People Have Crime Stories To Tell

As a Black Man and author who writes in the mystery/thriller genre. I need to say this for the people in the back who might not be able to hear. Black People Have Crimes Stories To Tell. Shall I repeat it? Black People Have Crime Stories To Tell. Mystery and crime writing is not exclusive to white people but you would think it was because of the lack of attention black mystery and crime writers get. You would think that this isn’t something that would need to be said and if you think that you would be wrong. It needs to be said and that is why I’m saying it.

There are black patrol officers, black detectives, black FBI agents, black Secret Service Agents, black forensic scientist, black medical examiners, black judges, black lawyers, black private investigators, black people in all areas of law enforcement. So if all these jobs have black people then why wouldn’t there be stories that reflect all of these people? Why wouldn’t readers want to read these stories that feature these people who work in these areas?

You’d think by now that publishers, journalists and the media-at-large would throw marketing budgets and provide outlets for writers of color. But today, crime writers are still predominately white-led. Men and women of color don’t seem to rate a mention unless it is a mention by the same men and women of color who are mentioning themselves.

We know crime. We can write crime. We can string together an interesting plot with plenty of twists. We can have law enforcement officers chasing criminals across several states. We can write psychological thrillers. We can write the stories that readers will want to read.

So KTR, what exactly are you saying?

I’m saying that we have stories to tell.

I have stories to tell.

Stories that I will continue to write.

Stories that will always feature black people in various roles.

Crime stories.