Would the POC members of the SPN community be amenable to tagging their posts on Tumblr/AO3 with a tag such as 'POC Creator' or 'POC SPN' in order to assist non-POC like myself and other POC fandom members in finding content created by POC fandom members?

I'd love to support more POC fandom members and to educate myself on representation via an actual POC, but I know that for safety concerns a lot of POC do not display their ethnicity on their profiles, and it seems horrifically rude to message people and ask.

I know this would potentially make it easier for assholes to find POC creators, but I'd really love to be able to support and interact more with the POC members of the fandom who've gone ignored and oppressed for so long.

Hi nonnie!

Wow, thanks for this - it’s a really interesting question!

Hm, safety concerns — and what POC perceive as unsafe — differ between individuals/groups of colour, but in general, as a POC I wouldn’t be amenable to identifying any of my fanworks as ‘POC-made’ via tags etc unless I make the conscious choice to do it on some days. Contexts and situations also matter. For example, I’m posting on a POC-run blog. The audience is BI/POC / white allies. So it’s logical for me to tag this as ‘poc’ or ‘mod: naruhearts’ (since I’ve made it clear that I’m POC). Another example is me self-identifying on twitter as a POC, which elevates my ethnic identity and allows me to carry out social activism + find other POC with whom to share solidarity and safe spaces; I’d use tags like #POCOpinions or #Filipinx4BlackLives (I use the latter more). Keep in mind that I do all this with the conscious thought that I’m opening myself up to white supremacy, but it’s still my autonomous choice to tag myself as such and form an online POC identity.

Fanfics and fancreations, however, can belong in a different realm. POC creators may or may not choose to make their POC and ethnic identit(ies) clear. I’d say that your job is to set aside assumptions. That includes assuming any person you come across within differing social platforms is white. It lies with you to advocate cultural awareness using your privilege, exercise cultural sensitivity, and dismantle any perceptions of Whiteness that may negatively impact your ability to engage with POC creators safely. On the other hand, it’s a fine line as well when it comes to the internet, since white people can absolutely disguise themselves and endanger POC.

If you want to support our communities without doing anything untoward as a white ally, a good place to start is to seek POC fanworks, businesses etc. How do they present themselves? What is important to them as creators/business owners? How do they engage with white audiences and allies? We may or may not want to draw any attention to ourselves. Then, one of the most important things you must do is ask. Ask POC what you can do to show your support/maintain our safety — what you can do to create safe POC spaces and tag systems — instead of making the suggestion first as a non-POC person. That way, you can present that your intentions are genuine, which paves the way for change.