I think she's talking to me
From oyceter RaceFail '09 : this hurts us all:
SF book fandom, where are you?
Although a few authors and editors have come out against what WS and KC have done, where is the rest of the fandom? Like Jane says earlier, "Where are the con-comms, going apeshit to distance themselves from these serial fails of race and culture? Where are the guests-of-honor, specifically inviting underserved communities to visit at an upcoming con? (Where are the "discount if this is your first con evar" programs?) Why aren't the SF organizations like SFWA (okay, bad example) having a cow and putting out official position statements on outreach? Where are press-releases from the publishing houses, explaining their diversity efforts (in their lists and in their workplaces)?"
Why the resounding silence? Editors, authors, fans-all the people who were not talking about RaceFail and what people in their field were doing: where are they?
If the prior months of RaceFail were "both sides behaving badly" (which I disagree with), what is this, and why has no one said anything?
Mely previously wrote, "Is group protest always right or good? No, it's not. It's a way to establish and enforce community norms, and it's only as right and good as the community norms are. It can be profoundly oppressive and profoundly abusive. But silence in the face of injury is also a way to establish and enforce community norms. You don't opt out of a community by remaining in it and never commenting on its big controversies; you just opt to abide by whatever party wins."
What SF book fandom is telling me-a woman, a person of color, and a long-time fan of SF books and a con-goer-what you are telling me is that you don't care. That these are, in fact, your community norms, that you are all right with people who have more power in your community (by virtue of profession, race, and gender) using that power to harm other, less powerful, members of your community. That you are fine with the erasure of women, of people of color, of those without the same professional privileges you enjoy, and that you are willing to stand by silently and let people be hurt. This is how it affects us. This. And this.
Your silence speaks volumes.
So.... what am I, as a fan and reader of SFF books, doing?
Am I linking you to the People of Colour in SF&F Carnival's 12th issue, which was released this week and which much like the awesome Feminist SF Carnival links to various discussions and essays on PoC characters and themes and how they're treated in various SFF media?
Am I linking you to the Asian Woman Blog Carnival which is doing a call for submissions and themes suggestions for its first edition?
Have I mentioned the Remyth Project, which is about PoC writing and creating about their mythologies and legends, so often erased, colonised, appropriated by others?
Being aware of the bias in the publishing industry and book store chains that will make it so that books by PoC and books about PoC are less likely to just come my way when I'm looking for books to read, or to be as widely marketed, recommended and reviewed, have I made a special effort to find those books and review them? Have I joined the 50books_poc and taken the challenge to read and review 50 books by PoC?
Have I mentioned that a PoC genre press, verb_noire, is getting started?
Have I ever blogged for the International Blog Against Racism? Have I linked to those posts?
Why haven't I? And what else could I do?
And back to the RaceFail '09, did I mention that rydra_wong has archived all the links you may want to read know exactly what happened and why it is outrageous, and how people who are writers and editors have been using both their power in the SF industry and their white privilege to silence and sidetrack criticisms of racism and cultural appropriation and have attacked, insulted, demeaned, outed people who were making those criticism? What does it mean when people who are influential and active in the SFF community do so without other people who are active and influential in the SFF community calling them on their shit? Is it something that only concerns the people who suffer from it, or is racism in this community, in my community, something that concerns all of us?
And you, those of you that are also SFF fans, con-goers, forums participants, bloggers and reviewers of the SFF community, those of you that are white and have the privilege of ignoring racism and the people suffering from racist until they start yelling in your ears, what have you been doing?
SF book fandom, where are you?
Although a few authors and editors have come out against what WS and KC have done, where is the rest of the fandom? Like Jane says earlier, "Where are the con-comms, going apeshit to distance themselves from these serial fails of race and culture? Where are the guests-of-honor, specifically inviting underserved communities to visit at an upcoming con? (Where are the "discount if this is your first con evar" programs?) Why aren't the SF organizations like SFWA (okay, bad example) having a cow and putting out official position statements on outreach? Where are press-releases from the publishing houses, explaining their diversity efforts (in their lists and in their workplaces)?"
Why the resounding silence? Editors, authors, fans-all the people who were not talking about RaceFail and what people in their field were doing: where are they?
If the prior months of RaceFail were "both sides behaving badly" (which I disagree with), what is this, and why has no one said anything?
Mely previously wrote, "Is group protest always right or good? No, it's not. It's a way to establish and enforce community norms, and it's only as right and good as the community norms are. It can be profoundly oppressive and profoundly abusive. But silence in the face of injury is also a way to establish and enforce community norms. You don't opt out of a community by remaining in it and never commenting on its big controversies; you just opt to abide by whatever party wins."
What SF book fandom is telling me-a woman, a person of color, and a long-time fan of SF books and a con-goer-what you are telling me is that you don't care. That these are, in fact, your community norms, that you are all right with people who have more power in your community (by virtue of profession, race, and gender) using that power to harm other, less powerful, members of your community. That you are fine with the erasure of women, of people of color, of those without the same professional privileges you enjoy, and that you are willing to stand by silently and let people be hurt. This is how it affects us. This. And this.
Your silence speaks volumes.
So.... what am I, as a fan and reader of SFF books, doing?
Am I linking you to the People of Colour in SF&F Carnival's 12th issue, which was released this week and which much like the awesome Feminist SF Carnival links to various discussions and essays on PoC characters and themes and how they're treated in various SFF media?
Am I linking you to the Asian Woman Blog Carnival which is doing a call for submissions and themes suggestions for its first edition?
Have I mentioned the Remyth Project, which is about PoC writing and creating about their mythologies and legends, so often erased, colonised, appropriated by others?
Being aware of the bias in the publishing industry and book store chains that will make it so that books by PoC and books about PoC are less likely to just come my way when I'm looking for books to read, or to be as widely marketed, recommended and reviewed, have I made a special effort to find those books and review them? Have I joined the 50books_poc and taken the challenge to read and review 50 books by PoC?
Have I mentioned that a PoC genre press, verb_noire, is getting started?
Have I ever blogged for the International Blog Against Racism? Have I linked to those posts?
Why haven't I? And what else could I do?
And back to the RaceFail '09, did I mention that rydra_wong has archived all the links you may want to read know exactly what happened and why it is outrageous, and how people who are writers and editors have been using both their power in the SF industry and their white privilege to silence and sidetrack criticisms of racism and cultural appropriation and have attacked, insulted, demeaned, outed people who were making those criticism? What does it mean when people who are influential and active in the SFF community do so without other people who are active and influential in the SFF community calling them on their shit? Is it something that only concerns the people who suffer from it, or is racism in this community, in my community, something that concerns all of us?
And you, those of you that are also SFF fans, con-goers, forums participants, bloggers and reviewers of the SFF community, those of you that are white and have the privilege of ignoring racism and the people suffering from racist until they start yelling in your ears, what have you been doing?