It's come to my attention that there are many who think 'RaceFail 09' has become insular. That it's going over the same points, again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
The above is not a posting error.
People of Colour, Non White Peoples, often find themselves repeating the same points, as often.
1 - Whenever a white person says, "But I don't see why you just couldn't be nicer and it'd facilitate more dialogue."
2 - Whenever a white person says, "But I totally didn't mean it to be racist."
3 - Whenever a white person says, "If you keep calling me racist I'm not going to bother doing anti-racist things anymore. Calling me racist is mean. I'm trying to help! You should make allowances!"
RaceFail 09 started because I dared to point out to a White Author that she didn't have it all right when it came to race and representation in her own books and that the words she was giving to new writers and her current readers were blind and filled with holes that would lead to stereotypes (examples given) and set back communication.
And then things exploded and various PoC online learned that professional SF&F was not ready to have people who are not white, telling them where they're messing up. It's ok for doctors and physicists and engineers to point out fallacies and problems and myths that have been accepted as fact but really have no scientific basis what so ever and have actually been refuted.
It is not ok when someone who experiences life differently due to the colour of their skin, due to their background and heritage (of slavery, of colonization, of fights for independence that happened within the past 70 - 100 years) - when they point out fallacies and tropes and pitfalls into myths and stereotypes which have been refuted and yet continue...
It is an appearance of THE HORDE. The PoC must be placated with soft words and lies about compassion, understanding, wanting the next generation to be better, have it easier. It is the rattling of spears and shields.
And even though the concept of THE HORDE is 'many non white people, at our gates! They're coming!'. Even though the outcry against the racism that's been exposed keeps growing with new voices, new thoughts, new hurt - it's all written off as insular and having lost its point ages ago.
Even though the derailment was not the fault of People of Colour, and they subsequently spun it into positive pro-actions; Carnivals, Booklists, Possible Panels at Cons, A new Press and more...
Even though the conversation has fragmented into:
- Race & Cultural Appropriation,
- Who Gets To Critique Race & Cultural Appropriation,
- How White Privilege Is Trying To Silence The Critique of Race & Cultural Appropriation,
- How White Privilege Equals Blindness To The Need For These Conversations, and more - in some quarters it's all but so much noise.
Even though the conversation has spilled out through Livejournal, Insanejournal, Blogger, Author Blogs, Emails, News-sites, Pop Culture Sites - like a living thing - filled with the voices of PoC, and their allies, trying to get a monolith of privilege and self claimed authority to listen, to recognize pain and lack and sorrow and a lessening of the human spirit - in some quarters it's nothing but Yet Another Livejournal Flamewar.
First we were too angry, too hurt, too emotional, not reading the text right, not intelligent enough to read the text right. Then we were class privileged liars, intellectual elite with no concept of true racism. Now we're a bunch of noisey rabblerousers having 'a flamewar' on one of those sites that always has flamewars and thus this ourcry, this pain, this anger, is not anything new, or different or special. It is not worth paying attention to. It is not worth noting or talking about.
It is noise.
Like the rattling spears and shields.
From the Horde at the gates.
Who're out to get whitey.
But don't worry, they'll calm down soon enough and everything will all be status quo again.
Except It Won't
Because if people talking like this were really paying attention, they would see the difference, hear it. They would understand what the creation of Verb Noire means. They would see the Writers of Colour saying 'I'm scared for my career' and maybe remember they'd claimed these writers as friends.
I am not the eloquent one. I am not the prose-maker in the multi-siege defense against white hands trying to hold themselves over the nose and mouth of a pain that will no longer go unexpressed and that pricks and prompts and goads for answers.
I just blew the horn.
But please, listen to me when I tell you not to ignore this. I am speaking to those who lurk and understand but don't speak/wonder if they should and those who lurk and don't understand.
RaceFail 09 created a Hydra and one who has evolved past the fear of fire on the stumps. A Hydra grows new heads for every one cut down (silenced) and that is what you're seeing here.
That noise?
Is the roar of a many headed dragon, stamping its way to a land of its own. It is Deepad's dragon, coming to find her and rest at her feet.
Miss Daisy in her fantasy chariot, is going to have to get out and walk in the future. But she really won't be able to say she didn't have any notice.
It's ok for doctors and physicists and engineers to point out fallacies and problems and myths that have been accepted as fact but really have no scientific basis what so ever and have actually been refuted.
ReplyDeleteIt is not ok when someone who experiences life differently due to the colour of their skin, due to their background and heritage (of slavery, of colonization, of fights for independence that happened within the past 70 - 100 years) - when they point out fallacies and tropes and pitfalls into myths and stereotypes which have been refuted and yet continue...
That's the thing that baffles me about a lot of this. We (writer-types, I guess) are supposed to be all about crit and corrections and all that. So why all the dumbshit defensiveness?!
This is an amazing and powerful post, and thank you, thank you for making it.
ReplyDeleteIs the roar of a many headed dragon, stamping its way to a land of its own. It is Deepad's dragon, coming to find her and rest at her feet.
This brought tears to my eyes at the same time that it makes me want to stand up and shout "YES!" Oh, thank you.
zillah975
ReplyDeleteI'm a little praise shy, but thank you for feeling what I meant to invoke. Once the hydra image came to my mind, I knew exactly what it was.
I fucking love the imagery in this post. YES YES YES
ReplyDeleteIs the roar of a many headed dragon, stamping its way to a land of its own. It is Deepad's dragon, coming to find her and rest at her feet.
ReplyDeleteYES.
All of me: YES!
And you say you are not eloquent. ::laughs::
ReplyDeleteAnd this is the sort of dragon that I accept coming home to roost. Thank you.
Deepad:
ReplyDeleteIt's your dragon, hon. I just recognized it and the direction it's heading.
Thank you.
You've done a whole lot more than blow the horn. I admire all of your posts so much.
ReplyDelete-chopchica
Like many others, I had tears in my eyes over the beauty of this post. (And they weren't Nice White Lady tears, either.) Powerful and beautiful in the face of so much ugliness.
ReplyDelete1. …Except It Won't…
ReplyDeleteThat's fucking brilliant.
I'm all for speaking truth to power and holding the establishment accountable. I'm not, overall, sanguine this it accomplishing very much. On an individual level—individual authors and readers—maybe. But that doesn't make established institutions less racist, less sexist, or less colonial, though hopefully, it creates more people who are unwilling to accept the hegemony of those institutions.
But this? This is something real. This is something better.
2. I've had a difficult time keeping up with RaceFail, not because it's “just a flamewar,” precisely, but because I've never tracked all that closely with SF/F blogs, and so on top of everyone talking passionately, loudly, with anger and resolve, it registers to me as all these people I don't know talking passionately, loudly, with anger and resolve. It's not generally too difficult to pick up who's who and what's what—I've seen this movie a few times before—but, especially this time around, it feels a bit like walking into the middle of a revolution. Maybe because it is walking into the middle of a revolution (hope, hope).
3. I want a dragon. Wait. No, I don't. I want an elephant, and I want her to have eaten the world when it was still a seed (the world grew anyway).
I was linked here by Zillah975. And I'm *so* glad.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Violet:
ReplyDeleteOk, I know that elephant, but I can't for the life of me remember why it seems familiar.
Oh, saints, yes. The dialogue can't stop. Shouldn't stop. Characters with "alternative" sexualities started out invisible, then stereotyped and tokenized in SF/F. Now, it's an odd book by anyone that doesn't at least include notice of someone who happens to be gay in the same way someone happens to be straight. It's not perfect, but it's more common as a note that's made and then only followed if necessary. At least in SF, but that's another discussion for another time. And it was dialog and discussion and activism that changed it across the spectrum of fiction genres.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this profound post. I just came into the whole Race Fail debate today and have been reading posts all day. I have mixed feelings about my cultures and religion being written about. These are some of my rambling thoughts.
ReplyDeleteEven by writers of the culture or cultures I belong to. For example, many Arab writers that get picked up by American and European publishing houses are terribly bad writers (in some cases there prose in Arabic is terrible and they include American references that the Arab readers won’t get but American readers will) but they write what the West wants, that is books about women suffering under the cruel tortures of Arab men. These books get a lot of attention. Or books that take on a very Western theme or book such as "rewriting" Heart of Darkness from the ethnic perspective.
A book that is the perfect example of both flaws is Azar Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books," the concept is great but the book itself presents Iran as some sort of horrific Mordor where evil reigns one dimensionally. However, her views are embraced and promoted by the West so that she becomes another tool for the Orientalist politics of America in justifying aggression towards Iran. How about if America looked at the violence it has and continues to perpetrate against so many third world nations before assuming that it has the right and arrogance to try to "civilize" or moralize about other nations. Badly paraphrasing Gandhi, Western civilization is a great idea and should occur. Mohsin Hamid’s novels, that have gotten a lot of attention recently, seem to have more American and European name brands in them and the setting could be changed to any country, the characters names changed to Latin or Anglo-Saxon names, and nothing about the story would be affected. This kind of writing deeply disturbs me.
Then there are of course writers who are writing about a culture outside of theirs. Of course, many don’t do it well or again rely on stereotypes. A lot of time we don’t even realize that our notion about something is a stereotype or racist because, especially in America, there is default view that is not questioned as being only one view. Think the many recent fraudulent memoirs that have been given a lot of publicity before being discovered as inauthentic. It is the fact that the books are discovered as inauthentic that is important here, especially since it is a very White publishing industry that chooses to publish these books. The books are always discovered, some reader or readers recognize incongruence’s.
This is not to say that writers cannot write about another culture, this is to say that it is not easy and no matter how earnestly you try (doing research, etc.), you may consciously or unconsciously fall into stereotype, or imperialist notions. There are a few who can be commended for trying but there is also a question I have: Having appropriated so much of the “Others,” throughout history shouldn’t more effort be made so that there are more writers from the cultures writing about themselves? Hasn’t there been enough theft and writing about other peoples in the West? Isn’t it time that the people write from that point of view instead of around it? Support writers of color, and there are many avenues to doing this. Esteemed writers should hold free workshops for writers of colors. If stopping racism and bringing more world and cultural awareness is your goal then actually put some time and effort into it. I’ve worked with many inner-city youth in America who don’t have the luxury, the opportunity, or even the awareness that they can and should write.
Finally, trying to include people of different cultures in your work is not a bad idea, especially since most people (hopefully) have friends that aren’t just from one culture. But, don’t assume to write from another culture, or even religion in itself is something to be proud of or that you are an expert at it. Maybe you can address issues of race\racism with a main character who is of your background. Maybe you can consult or co-write a story with a person from the culture you wish to write from. Just as you don’t get brownie points for thinking that women and men should be treated equal (that should be the default view, it is not having this view that is deplorable), you don’t get brownie points from writing about another culture just for the sake of it. And in SF&F there is a trend of taking an old story and rewriting it from a cultural perspective. This does not make it new, this just dresses it up in an ethnic costume, the innards are still the same.
This isn't going away, no matter how much the Powers That Be wish it would. We're claiming our voices and taking back our words.
ReplyDeleteAnd never forget, love, that the herald who blows the horn is critical to rallying the troops. We couldn't have done it without you.
Absolutely, 100% YES!
ReplyDeleteLast night I had a long talk with my cousin, a POC in journalism, about how many times major, constructive changes came when people had a conflagration like this, and how they always end up creative successful avenues of expression and successful endeavors for POC. He only skimmed the links, but he says that this has all the hallmarks of being another one of those situations.
I hope and pray that he's right. I feel pretty strongly though, that he is.
It's time.
If you can't claim eloquence, no one can. I am so sorry for the pain this has caused you, and so happy that you keep turning it into brilliance such as this.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I hope this dialogue never stops; the change you talk about needs to happen.
Zuleika Abadi:
ReplyDelete...the setting could be changed to any country, the characters names changed to Latin or Anglo-Saxon names, and nothing about the story would be affected. This kind of writing deeply disturbs me.
The book for me that did that was Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. I could not express my disappointment and levels of WTH at the time, other than that the plot and characters could all fit into a fully Western Pseudo Europe without a blink. Now I would say, this book is Western Epic Hero Fantasy - With Japanese Dressing.
And in SF&F there is a trend of taking an old story and rewriting it from a cultural perspective. This does not make it new, this just dresses it up in an ethnic costume, the innards are still the same.
Exactly.
As for bad authors picked up - I've felt similarly as well about what I call Ghetto Lit. Again, these bad novels give Publishers what they want and expect - black people selling drugs, trading sex for power, wanting big cars and fast easy times, sometimes with some church thrown in. I know that this trend can said to be started because one woman thought of asking prison inmates to write about their lives. But this has gone beyond 'This is what got me in jail/This is how I saw life' and become it's own genre. And it's a genre that extends to adolescents now and is marketed to them - all sex and violence included. And I've observed in my neighbourhood it's eagerly eaten up, because there's someone similar to the reader on the cover. And even if it's a music video style life in the pages, it's a life they recognize.
Your entire comment reads like a blog entry, filled with very good points, asking questions and confronting issues that have been part of what 'The Hydra' has been voicing, not just in the last three months, but last year and the year before that and the year before that, going on. But certain people don't seem to want to hear.
aecamadi:
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right. I really do. And not just for Verb Noire, but because it's so needed. We have can't wait for change anymore, we're making it.
Hmm, maybe a lot of us have been unconsciously inspired by Obama or maybe we've just been comparing how much things haven't changed in '40 years'.
Darkrose:
ReplyDelete... No Words.
*hugs*
Wait. Words. "Thank You."
Zuleika Abadi— But, don’t assume to write from another culture, or even religion in itself is something to be proud of or that you are an expert at it. Maybe you can address issues of race\racism with a main character who is of your background. Maybe you can consult or co-write a story with a person from the culture you wish to write from…
ReplyDeleteI'm sortof torn over this take on appropriation.
On the one hand, I don't fundamentally feel like we own our stories, particularly not in a way that makes it impossible for people from other cultural backgrounds to speak them.
On the other hand, every time I hear about Slumdog Millionaire, I want to throw something at Danny Boyle.
This: “Again, these bad novels give Publishers what they want and expect…” is, I think, super-important. It may be that appropriation, per se, consists not just in speaking our stories, but in using our stories against us—including just supporting a white-supremacist patriarchal industry.
(I can hear everyone going, “Yes, welcome to the clue train, have a cocktail.”)
Avalon's Willow— Ok, I know that elephant, but I can't for the life of me remember why it seems familiar.
It's Airavata. Only it's not. Maybe she's his grandmother?
(I was just remembering the elephants romping with blue-skinned gods in the comic books made of cheap newsprint that we had scattered all over when I was a girl. Clearly, they are dragons. If occasionally with more heads.)
I would just like to say: <3<3<3<3<3<3 ....and I wish for your powerful, awesome voice to be heard around the world.
ReplyDeleteNzraya:
ReplyDeleteThank you.
You are amazing. Thank you for not shutting up, for continuing to tell us white folks, "You're not getting it." Thank you for not being cowed and for not losing your voice - you and all the other PoC and allies who haven't given in and shut up.
ReplyDeletewonderful WONDERFUL post. this gave me chills. thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteZuleika, thanks very much for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI hope to be behind you all, supporting, all the way.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I do believe that was eloquence:) Well said!
ReplyDeletecolor-blue & livrelibre:
ReplyDeleteThroughout a lot of this, I've felt like the person who flipped the first domino, made the first set of noise, banged the first drum. It's the role I accepted, because someone has to say something first. Speaking for those whose voices get tangled up in their throats is very important to me.
And yet at the same time, I've felt as if I was nothing but that horn. I felt a bit lost. What do you do once you've blown the horn for the initial charge?
I accepted being 'The one who didn't read / wasn't smart enough / isn't nice enough / isn't patient / or giving / who doesn't teach and is mean'. I accepted that my words might only ever be seen as a horn blow.
Darkrose's words touch me deeply. They say that my words haven't been useless - that I haven't been useless since the start and I can be useful still.
Thank you as well, for your compliments.
Yes indeed! Chills and fire and determination. Hail the dragon.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud to know you it hurts. I promise I'll get back to your comment on my journal, I'm just suffering response fatigue and i didn't want you to think I was avoiding it. I just need time for the words.
ReplyDeleteYou make me so amazed sometimes. You did so much good and look at what the world has made of your fire, Willow, it's made a place to live.
Never stop blowin' that horn, Willow, never stop, not when it can inspire things like Verb Noire, things we all need, even us crazy white folks who want a better world for our friends.
Thanks a million.
I am so confused.
ReplyDeleteI think that the term "People of colour" is inherently racist *shudder* It's horrible. It's basically normalizing caucasians, isn't that what everyone wants to AVOID? Us vs them?
Why cant we just call ourselves our names?
white, black, latino, asian, indian, american, english, eskimo... whatever we label ourselves? How about human?
There had better be room on that dragon for everyone, no matter their genetic stock. I dont like being lumped on any side of this argument simply because of my genetics, or my culture, or any the things I have no control over for the term of my childhood and beyond because of that.
Confused Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to comment in my journal you need to sign with some kind of name so I know who you are for the sake of easy to follow conversation.
I prefer to be described as a Person of Colour. I am a Person of Colour. My melanin igmentation is darker than those of Caucasions. I am beautifully brown. I am not pasty. And I'm sure as hell not born tanned.
I've also made my peace using the phrase Non White Peoples. I used to think that the phrase Non White, normalized Whites. And it was difficult for me to use. But I respect those who identify themselves using those terms and these days I can to the beauty in the term myself.
Also, there is no room on or in that dragon for you or anyone like you. There's not. The people who are part of, or buoyed by that dragon are people who get what race is; how it plays a part in the lives of those who are Not White, how race has been ignored and how PoC/NWP are not taking that any more.
Someone who believes that because they don't like being lumped in with Whitefolk because they have no control over it and who then has a bit of a hissy fit in my journal about how unfair it is that they have no control over their genetics - is missing how People of Colour /Non White Peoples don't have any control either. PoC/NWP don't have control over how they were born and yet they can't just have a hissy fit and walk away - mostly because someone white will call them over-emotional and backwards, day in and day out if they just don't deal with it. It would also mean they'd be avoiding their entire life.
My journal is not the place for your White Guilt & Fear, internalized, unconscious, unintentional or anything else that gives you one remove from this matter.
When next you interact with me, you better bring some knowledge to the conversation. I don't babysit and I don't teach.
* Pigmentation
ReplyDeleteIs the roar of a many headed dragon, stamping its way to a land of its own. It is Deepad's dragon, coming to find her and rest at her feet.
ReplyDeleteYou may consider yourself non-eloquent, but this imagery sent a glorious shiver down my spine and took my breath away.
And yes. Many times, yes.