Wherein I Pimp My Roommate's Coming Essay Like A Hard Hard Thing.

[witchwillow]

Wherein I Pimp My Roommate's Coming Essay Like A Hard Hard Thing. And I Declare White Bread & Mayo Isn't Always Everything.

The roommate was going to write (and actually did write) an essay about how to figure out if you like a character of color. In the end, she couldn't find anyone who could moderate for her so she pulled the essay which was

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[zvi_likes_tv]

The first couple of times I wrote about race and fandom, it was just to say, "Hi, fandom, you have a problem." Because I hadn't seen anyone say anything like that before. Which is not to say that no one did, but they hadn't said it where I could see it. (Part of the problem almost certainly is that I started out in XF, which had a really white cast. I didn't think it was about race that there were only two or three Mulder/Mr. X fics. There were only a few Mulder/CSM fics or Mulder/Spender fics, and they CSM and Spender both had bigger roles.)

Now, I say something when I have something new to say about race and fandom. Because the issue recurs periodically, and there are people willing to say at regular intervals, "Hello, fandom, you've got issues," and structures willing to link to those discussions.

When I write, I'm mostly writing for the people who are almost there. The people who are like, "I would write about CoCs, except that I'm afraid of the Fans of Color." The ones who, when you say, "Hey, that CoC over there is exactly your type, why aren't you slashing him?" say, "Er, how embarrassing that it didn't occur to me to do so." The people who are waiting to be told how to do less racist things.

The people who greet your, "Fandom, you have a problem," post with, "But why for do you not speak of the classism or the Welsh?" or "But there were totally three black kids in my class in college, so obviously racism is over," are not the audience, yet. They have to get whacked over the head many more times about the issue before they understand that the issue exists. But every time I post something they are not the audience for yet, they are being slapped in the face, so, you know, the next time I post, or in three years when they come back to my post, they'll be ready to learn.