A novelist begs for forgiveness for transgressing racial censorship while endorsing it as valid.

The core of the article is a thoughtful presentation of how writing about people different from yourself is difficult but necessary. You can easily mess up and make an ass of yourself, so doing it right requires great care. But this is no reason to forbid it.

The sad aspect is that the author ends up endorsing a system of racist censorship that would cement every writer, every person, into an ethnic pigeonhole of thought.

Our existing culture developed by appropriation. That's what culture is meant for. To allow any group to "own" stories, or roles, would subjugate the human spirit. You deserve the right to imitate any culture you can see. Please do not yield if anyone tries to take that away from you.

The real threat to culture today is not "cultural appropriation" by other people. It is the giant corporations that control so much of our culture now.