Thinking through Race

"Every writer should feel free to write about any and all subject matter as a part of their creative impulse."

This is the general energy prevailing in class after having read a novel written by a white Canadian male author about Native Canada, cleverly disguised in multiple voice narration.

Professor XY (white woman): "If everyone (Blacks, Natives, Indians-- minorities) write only about their own identities then it can lead to a ghettoization (emphasis mine) of the literature they produce."

Why do i find this problematic?

On a Separate Occasion

Same idea that everyone should teach everything and race shouldn't factor into who's teaching what. A black person should be able to teach a course in renaissance literature in the same way that a white person should be able to teach African literature without there being a race issue. That's fine, except:

Me (black woman): "You cannot look at a person and not see race."

Professor Q (white woman): "Yes, true, but the colour of a person tells you nothing about that person. I see black when i look at you but it doesn't tell me anything about you except that you are a minority; i am a minority, too, in Toronto (emphasis mine)."

Why do i find this problematic and ironic?