I think she's talking to me

[salinea]

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?

Comments

[eefster.livejournal.com]

Not enough. I had heard of the original back-and-forth about Bear's LJ "discussion", and had read a bit about it then, but after that it slipped my mind. I had absolutely no idea that it had not only continued, but escalated.

When you posted about the larger situation again last week, I was shocked. Particularly, I was shocked by the whole Nielsen Hayden thing -- that was "It's not my fault and this is now about my hurt feelings" writ large. And these are people, I know, but they're also professionals, and it was probably the biggest bunch of petty nonsense I've seen in my life.

I have not joined 50books_poc, but I am making a point of reading more books by PoC. I came across the mention of verb_noire in the tnh thing, and was delighted.

I think that there has been a lot of fighting against the conservatives* of con-goers, and I hope that it continues. Saying one wants new blood, but only if they do things exactly the same way you do, is utterly ridiculous. I am going to make a point of suggesting some of those things listed above and elsewhere. I'm thinking of the new congoer panels, panels by and for PoC, and about fiction by PoC, plus perhaps other groups. (Can we have serious discussions about representations of sexuality at a con yet?) I'll suggest things for/by/about women too, of course, but I think that white women are marginally better represented in most con programming than other underrepresented groups.

ETA: I knew I'd forgotten something. My original asterisked point was going to be this: I know that the entrenched "our way or the highway" folk tend to be above a certain age, and that "old guard" isn't really to do with age anyway, but I dislike conflating one's age with one's outlook.

PS I haven't said it before, but thanks for linking to the whole thing, and the individuals' posts. I am consistently amazed at their eloquence and patience, and particularly their knack for distilling things down, one benefit of which is that CWP can understand without feeling attacked. Of course, that makes me feel bad that they *have* to address this stuff at all, but it's still nothing compared to the original.

PPS They are NOT doing it for the CWP, and it was bad phrasing on my part to suggest that they were, or should be.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

This is pretty awesome actually, IMHO.

And you're welcome, and yes, I am, too, amazed, that is.