I think its a different kind of representation. "The Expanse" book series, for instance, also features this sort of "UN" representation of many people form many kinds of ethnic background, and this is really great! However, the experiences of these characters is divorced from those of many non-white people living in the U.S. (this will of course all vary by the country of the audience). There is also a matter of who is the main or POV character, and who are secondary characters.
Butler, however, offers a different kind of representation. For one, her main protagonists are black. And, at least in the parable books, she focuses on a near future where the experiences of the black protagonists would be more familiar to black readers. Third, these are black characters written by a black women, who can draw on her own experience to more effectively capture and communicate the experiences of black women.
Representation in sci-fi is tricky, because once you start getting too far away from the current time period, you start to lose out a lot of the cultural experiences that people can relate to. N.K. Jemisin's "The Broken Earth" series does a decent job of capturing the experiences of non-white people living in the U.S. in a deep and thoughtful way, while maintaining an abstract fantasy/sci-fi setting.
Butler, however, offers a different kind of representation. For one, her main protagonists are black. And, at least in the parable books, she focuses on a near future where the experiences of the black protagonists would be more familiar to black readers. Third, these are black characters written by a black women, who can draw on her own experience to more effectively capture and communicate the experiences of black women.
Representation in sci-fi is tricky, because once you start getting too far away from the current time period, you start to lose out a lot of the cultural experiences that people can relate to. N.K. Jemisin's "The Broken Earth" series does a decent job of capturing the experiences of non-white people living in the U.S. in a deep and thoughtful way, while maintaining an abstract fantasy/sci-fi setting.