“One writes out of one thing only — one’s own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience — the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give. This is the only real concern.” — James Baldwin

Well, IMHO… the simplest answer is — yes. However, the world is in a bit of a complex, hot mess — having been severely skewed by the systems of white supremacy for far too long. So, writing is another tool that can be used to redress the imbalance of misinformation or erasure. It is a weighty thing of course, and you can absolutely choose to put it down. You do not have to lead with Blackness in your writing, but we know a lot of the reasoning why many Black people choose to do so. I lead with it sometimes because it is a major part of my whole experience in the world, and is not separate from my humanness. The default in storytelling I believe — should be humanness, but invariably it is the social construct of whiteness that is the default. Anyway, write on. 🌻