Snitchcat, I'm always struck by the clarity of your views, and wonder if you could help me understand a little better. I thought it was understood that "straight white guys" have always had too much power in English-language publishing. In other areas we are encouraged to "use our privilegeā to support people who don't have that power. I interpreted the OP's words as saying other cultures are intrinsically worthy of attention and he wanted to help get the word out. Are you saying that this wanting to help is offensive in itself?
Yes, it's understood that "straight white guys" have always dominated and have too much power in English-language publishing. And therein lies the issue.
While I agree that other cultures are worthy of attention, it is not the domain of the "straight white guy" to tell the story of that culture from that culture's viewpoint.
For example, I am Chinese but I am
not a Chinese
refugee. Therefore, though I am of the Chinese culture, I do not have the necessary experience or access to being a refugee of the culture. To be a refugee of the Chinese culture is to have a very different viewpoint, sometimes (a lot of times?) it involves loathing, unexpressed fury, and a deep soul-rending hurt thanks to injustice and unfounded persecution. I can describe the surface emotions and thoughts (as I've just done), but the actual story of someone from that sub-culture isn't mine to tell. There are plenty of Chinese refugees who are willing to tell their own stories and publish those stories. And that publishing spot, IMO, belongs to them. It's not my place to "charge in" and say, "I have the right to tell your story", or "I can include your story and your life in my work, so your culture gets more exposure".
That's the offensive part of the original post: That a POC does not have the wherewithal to tell their own story and must rely on a "straight white guy" to get their story out there to the "mainstream". But the "mainstream" is... what, exactly? Is the "mainstream audience" white cishet? If so, is this "mainstream audience" the only market worth getting into? If so, then in this way, it's "white saviour syndrome". It's also offensive that the white straight writer feels it's necessary to silence the POC writer (as another poster pointed out), even though the POC writer is writing their story, to maintain white dominance in the English-language publishing space. (If that were truly the goal, then perhaps English should not be so widespread as it is? This last is completely hypothetical and, actually, makes a fascinating premise for a story.)
There's a film out there called "The Great Wall", and it's about China. The story goes that there is a threat from beyond the Wall and the Chinese have to defend the country. However, the Chinese cannot defend the wall properly or fail to do so because they do not have the knowledge. Enter the white guy (who's there to steal gunpowder secrets). With the white guy jumping in at the last minute, the Chinese are victorious in defending China against the enemy that the white guy knows all about. And the white guy has saved the day! (Writers are non-Chinese; the film was, obviously, made for a Western white audience and Chinese companies agreed, 'cos money.)
The levels of offensiveness and racism and whatnot are innumerable. The film also states that Chinese people and Chinese culture are incompetent and unworthy of being their own things,
unless a white guy leads the people and draws attention to the culture.
(Disclosure: I've only read the description and seen the poster for this particular film.)
Similarly, I'm not watching Disney's live action version of "Mulan". The screenplay was written by four non-Chinese writers (I'm assuming they consulted Chinese experts). But why is "Mulan" their story to tell? The Chinese people have stories of Mulan, we have our films of Mulan, animations, comics, etc. Why can't non-Chinese film companies draw attention to these iterations of Mulan? Why do non-Chinese film companies feel the need to remake Mulan in
their image? Why were non-Chinese writers given the job of writing a Chinese story?! (Yes, I know Disney steals its stories.)
In the same way, why is it that a straight white writer is given the job / takes the job of writing a First Nations' story? Why is it that a straight white writer is given the job / takes the job of writing a story from the point of view of another culture not their own? Why can't that straight white writer
respect that culture and
respect the fact that that culture has writers of its own?
If the white straight writer helps to promote a story already written / published, that's great! Helping to draw attention to a story already out there is a wonderful thing to do.
I also have a hunger to learn about other cultures, and wonder if there is anything I could do to get more diverse stories into circulation. Is this a selfish attitude?
No, not a selfish attitude. It's a great attitude, in fact!
Others have provided excellent suggestions.
I'd also like to add that perhaps requests can be made for translations of stories that aren't in a language one can read. One can also contact the publisher of those stories, or the authors themselves.
eta: I should make it clear that I do see insensitivities in the original post, just not any mean-spiritedness.
I agree, there was no mean-spiritedness. I saw only a desire to help. However, for me, the method chosen was inappropriate.