/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

Can I just put in my two cents for this Disney race thing? Because I'm all for adding more diversity into our media, but I don't like how people are beginning to attack you for choosing to use white characters for things. I am a white American. For my thesis I'm illustrating a story I wrote, and when I was discussing my character designs, one girl in my class said I should make it take place in Africa.
I asked her why, (this girl is white btw) and she said how we need more representation of nonwhite characters in children's literature, which I agree with. However, the story I wrote did not reflect any African elements at all, and I feel that I would not be contributing to anything, but instead being more offensive.
Telling me I need to make my piece take place in Africa because of white guilt is such bullshit. If I want to write a story with African element I would, but that's not what my thesis is about, it's about gender identity (i know, i know) and I don't need to be throwing in extra bullshit element to distract from that. For next semester I'm illustrating a story I wrote where the main character is a little boy from India, and I'm praised for this. God forbid I do a story about white people despite whatever message I portray. Ironically enough, my GTI, who is from Mexico, loves my story and my character designs. He had no problem with them for being white because he said that the story and its ideals is what should be the focus.
I don't know, am I in the wrong here?