Dear Newsies writers and readers:
Alright, you know what? I had an entire essay written for this topic, but I figured that didn't matter if I wasn't going to provide information and my own faults, so here's this:
Oh! And don't be afraid to correct me on any information. I'd really appreciate it.
I agree with everything they said.
I try my hardest to write the Newsies as diverse as I possibly can by clarifying that certain Newsies aren't white or writing interracial relationships, but of course I missed some details, so I'll start with that.
For one, I regret to say that I have written the Newsies as characters that were all born in New York, or America. As someone that writes them in mostly modern settings, I often forget that not everyone in the US is an American citizen, and I need to work on that, and I will. I'd like to think I'm beginning to.
Secondly, religious diversity. I have written Davey and Les as ethnic Jewish people, but I've failed to shine a brighter light on the fact they believe in Judaism (and I'm hoping this sentence is correct). I'm not Jewish, and I'm not sure how to examine and represent their religion, so I suppose fear of misrepresentation was my biggest issue. I'll have to get better at asking questions.
Thirdly, there are definitely some characters that are immigrants or first/second generation that I missed, for example, Joseph Pulitzer. Yes, that makes Katherine Plumber-Pulitzer (assumably) a first generation Hungarian-American citizen. There's also Crutchie and Race, who are Jewish, and Jack, who's Irish. There's so many more characters I missed (or forgot about because they didn't have huge roles).
As for other characters of different religions, I'll work on that as well. There may be a need for making more OCs, but that's okay. I'm genuinely okay with creating more characters to represent something I care about: culture.
Identity was very important in 1899, and it is still important now, in 2022. It may not seem like a big deal now because we're in a time of which race, ethnicity, and religion don't "matter" to the majority, but it's still important. It's not something you can ignore.
And these changes are just in livesies. It happens in all of the movie business, including Hollywood, and has been happening since theater shows became a thing (well, the Americanized theater shows). Many characters go misrepresented or under represented in many shows and movies, and it's not right. It's horrible.
The only way it stops is if we call it out and don't participate in it. And I don't blame anyone for this type of erasure and discrimination. It's something that happens, and often we do it unconsciously because it makes us comfortable.
I just want everyone to be aware of it. Along with this, it just sounds weird for a bunch of White American teenagers who all believe in the same things to gather together in be best friends. Not only is it unrealistic, it's just hard to imagine. I'm sure it happens, but usually in certain parts of town most people don't like.
I hope this was informative. That's all I can really say, minus the growing word count after that (about 550 words lol). This is just something I care about, and I find it important, so when I saw this, I thought to share it with you.
Please use this information wisely. As for authors, I'm not asking you to go through all of your stories and rewrite everything you wrote—no. That's a lot of work and it would be done in a place of negativity, coming from me, and I don't want that. I'm just asking, that I'm future projects, you keep an open mind.
This also isn't to negate or make any Livesies writers feel bad. I understand that the live version is different and has many different actors performing as characters, but just know that it's not accurate, whether to history or the movie.
I should've said this a while ago, when I noticed this for the first time within the fandom. But I didn't, so I'm doing it now.
Thanks for reading:)
Sincerely, Ferret