“It’s not for the black person to be more open-minded. It’s for the white person to be less racist.”

In an an essay published on Literary Hub, Jamaican novelist and award-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, has said that it’s “time to stop talking” about diversity, saying “it’s not for the black person to be more open-minded. It’s for the white person to be less racist.”

Marlon James in his essay titled 'Why I'm Done Talking About Diversity' argues that we are so taken with the word 'diversity' that we have refused to make any significant progress despite panels about diversity year after year.

James asks: “Why do we need a black person on a panel to talk about inclusion when it’s the white person who needs to figure out how to include?” The fact the books industry is still having diversity panels, he continues, “not only means that we continue to fail, but the false sense of accomplishment in simply having one is deceiving us into thinking that something was tried”.

He writes. “It’s not for the black person to be more open-minded. It’s for the white person to be less racist. It’s not for the trans person to prove why she needs to use the female bathroom. It’s for the bigot to stop attacking trans people. The problem with me coming to the table to talk about diversity is the belief that I have some role to play in us accomplishing it, and I don’t.”

He ends the essay with encouraging less talk and more action. "Maybe we will stop failing so badly at true diversity when we stop thinking that all we need to do is talk about it."

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