Zetta Elliott on race and reviewing

[dhobikikutti]

From a guest post she made on Justine Larbalestier's blog:

I must confess that lately, the only white-authored books I read are those about people of color. I sometimes feel obligated to read these books in order to ascertain whether or not black people are being misrepresented by white authors who mean well, but don’t really have a clue. I

Comments

[recumbentgoat]

And, ultimately, being able to write about anyone from anywhere is a privilege reserved primarily for whites

Yes. And connecting this with film, etc--it's not enough for poc representation on the screen/page, that's just one part of the battle---there's got to be room at the table for stories told by poc too. I remember when I was collecting picturebooks, it was hard to find poc-owned publishing houses. And that her book was put out by Lee&Low isn't surprising. I know some major publishing houses have imprints--of which Andrea Davis Pinkney headed one. Her husband and father in law have written/illustrated many books.

Her essay on awards for and by poc still resonates 10 years later: Awards that Stand On Solid Ground

[recumbentgoat]

I think I was getting side-tracked with the picturebooks, but what I mean to say is that there needs to be more creative control by poc, as well as more opportunity to financially reap from their creations.

That's why I get highly annoyed with cooking shows where it's predominately (actually I think it's like 99%) white cooks serving as a guide/interpreter into other food cultures. Especially when there's such a huge disparity in poc representation in that genre alone. Cooking colonialism. It really enforces this idea that all perspectives are white by default. It's so overwhelming.

You see it with what's happening with the Quileutes (sp?) in Twilight too. I think this was something addressed by Kenyan coffee farmers when they took on Starbucks over the name useage, but I can't remember the particulars of that.

[recumbentgoat]

Anyway, sorry to keep adding to this. But this got me thinking too of Claire Light's bootstrapping b.s. about 'what poc need to do' MOAR!! Enough with that shit please. poc do plenty enough as it is