Ok so my writing buddy has raised this issue and thought I would ask for more feedback.
I'm writing a fantasy novel. It is quite dark themed, death, inequality, the cast are almost entirely not white but also no-one is analogous to a real life race if you see what I mean.
There are necromancers in the book and they are marked with a black aura. Because they are one of the (apparent) baddies in the books the colour black is culturally associated with bad luck. No one would wear it for example, not even for mourning.
The main character is a black eyed ,13 year old boy and his eye colour is one reason people are suspicious of him/his race. There are also a group of talking raven characters who are also black in colour and they are also considered unlucky by the common people.
It is revealed later that this reputation isn't fully correct anyway.
In the book no-one is discriminated against because of the colour of their skin, it's a diverse setting anyway it's more about old grudges from wars and if they sided with the necromancers or not.
One of the themes is about how history is written with certain narratives in mind so part of the plot is about discovering that these judgements are unfair or cause a self fulfilling prophecy etc.
My buddy is suggesting that people might take this approach as racism because of the black=bad connection. I get that if
There was a very black and white (haha) approach but it's much more nuanced then that.
I'm sort of deliberately playing on the black Vs white trope and turning on it's head with later reveals There are very few 'bad' characters anyway. Everyone has their motivations.
What do you all think?