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I suppose it's important if you, like the author, prefer to read "troubled family in a troubled culture" stories. I prefer to read science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and the occasional bit of miscellaneous violence. I'm not reading to have my consciousness raised; I'm reading to have fun. Whether the characters in the story have the same skin color I do, or speak the same language I do, or even breathe the same atmospheric gas mix as I do, doesn't matter. If it's a fun story to read, I don't care what either the author or the characters look like. Likewise, if the story sucks, it sucks just as hard no matter if the protagonist is my spitting image or something with tentacles and eyestalks.
The implication that books by black authors are mostly in the "troubled family in a troubled culture" genre, or that such books are primarily by black authors, is also disturbing. I have to wonder: is the ghetto being railed against is one of race or one of genre?
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