Segregation of books?

A debate has opened up on my comments page that I’d be really interested in sharing with others. The issue has to do with the segregation of books in American book stores by the race of the author and, to a lesser extent, the characters. Now, remember I’m not American, and in Trinidad the practice is almost unheard of. So I’m fascinated by the whole thing.

I’m inviting you over to join the debate and make some observations of your own.

What do you think of the practice of racial/ethnic segregation of books?

Also, I remember as a young girl reading romance, the only books available to us were written by white women, about white characters, as the African American romance genre pretty much hadn’t been invented yet. I cut my teeth on Janet Dailey, Kathleen Woodwiss and Barbara Cartland. Now we as black women have a genre of our own, and yet many of us still read “white” romances. My question is; do white women read black romances? What about black mainstream fiction?

In the world of rap music, a significant proportion of the consumers are white. What’s it like in the world of black fiction? Do we have a large white readership? And if not, why not?

I’d love to hear your views. Why not drop by and chew the fat a little?