morgan_dhu (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
morgan_dhu) wrote2009-03-07 10:50 pm
morgan_dhu) wrote2009-03-07 10:50 pm
Entry tags:
This is what I believe, this is who I hope I am
The Internets are talking a lot about racism and science fiction and a host of related concerns these days. There’s even a name for it – RaceFail 09 (aka The Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom 09, because there has to be a pseudonym) – because so much of it has been about, in one way or another, how white fans and writers and editors and publishers are failing to even try to do the right thing when it comes to race.
I haven’t written much about it here or in comments in other posts, because I am wary of perpetuating the trope of the white defender riding to the rescue of the helpless oppressed person of colour. And there are so many powerful voices of colour speaking strongly and clearly and bravely and wisely and passionately and truthfully, they don’t need my help. They are not victims in need of saving, they are the heroes I hope to emulate.
But it’s also true that in many eyes, silence equals consent - with the oppressor, of course, never with the oppressed. If I do not speak, no one is going to assume that my silence means I agree with those strong, wise, brave, true voices of colour.
And so I say this: I do not consent to the silencing of different voices, even when they say what I am afraid to hear. I do not consent to the derailing of discussion on race and power and privilege, even when the discussion demands that I examine myself and find the unacknowledged racism and classism, the internalised sexism and ablism and heteronormativism, all the other influences that come from living in a society built on oppression and exploitation and protection of privilege and othering and dividing those who would resist in order to conquer all.
And I say this, too: I want to live in a world where we all can celebrate the differences of equals, where there are no Others, only different ways of being Us. But I know that’s not the world we live in, so it is incumbent on me to do what I can, in the best way that I can, in spite of all the internalised garbage I carry with me, and the racism of the world around me to try to make that world I want to live in a reality.
Here and now on this battlefield, for this white person who hopes to be a good ally, that means supporting fans and writers and editors and publishers of colour. It means honouring, savouring, learning from the words and thoughts and experiences that fans and writers and editors and publishers of colour have shared in the course of this engagement. It means taking the good that has begun here – the new ventures, the new understandings and awakenings, the new alliances – and building on them.
- - - - - - - - - -
Reading and learning:
The many links of
rydra_wong![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
50books_pocSupporting:
verb_noirefight_derailing
no subject
no subject
no subject
linked ere via <lj user=triciasullivan sorry to just show up and start fighting with one of your commenters.
no subject
You are describing primarily the written science fiction of the pre-1945 era -- and only some of it, at that. In most post-1945 science fiction, the requirement that all the heroes be of Northwest European origin was dropped, to the extent that it had ever existed (it was primarily a convention of the 1920's - 1930's pulps).
The notion that the heroes needed to be white died its long slow death from 1945 to around 1965, if one was forced to ascribe hard and fast dates to it. (Some very important writers, such as Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven and Andre Norton, never subscribed to the notion in the first place). By the 1970's-1980's it was dead, in science fiction literature. By the 1990's it had even mostly died in video.
You seem to be assuming that, unless a publisher makes great efforts to recruit writers "of colour," or an author makes great efforts to include characters "of colour," everyone must be white. This is not true: since non-whites (what a huge bag to put peple in) are people just as are whites, they will write science fiction, and characters will be ascribed non-white origins.
... there is no reason to change what you read, and continue to not give a ding-dong about it.
I read science fiction for entertainment and enlightenment. I do not read it to make a "quota" of "the ethnicities Jordan read this year."
To read an author because of his ethnicity is actually an insult to his writing. The implication is that you wouldn't bother to look at it if he weren't whatever-ethnicity-we-need-to-fill-the-quota.
But well, some people do care, either because they aren't white ...
... and as such don't read for entertainment and enlightenment, unlike us privileged white folk? I've known plenty of "nonwhite" people, who are far more common in fandom (and normal social life) than you may realize. They read for entertainment and enlightenment, just as do I. To my knowledge, none of them were trying to meet quotas.
... or because they just give a shit. weird, huh.
I do think it's pretty weird to choose your reading on the basis of the ethnicity of the author.
I also think it's more than a bit racist. What would you think of me if I preferred to read white authors on the basis of their ethnicity? Ok, so why is it any different if I'd prefer to read black, or Amerindian, or Chinese authors on account of their ethnicity?
no subject
I welcome discussion in my journal as long as it remains civil, although if you care to examine
no subject
no subject
There are so many aspects of the discussion to think about, but this is such a deeply rooted and many-branched issue, and one that bears such emotional weight, that I find difficult to organise my thoughts into some semblance of coherence. But sometimes I manage it.
Linking is fine. Generally speaking, I have no objections to anyone linking to my posts - this is the Internet, I assume from the start that what I write could end up anywhere. ;-)
no subject
Your post has given me a perspective that helps me move forward. I've been feeling so overwhelmed by the magnitude of this discussion (and I haven't even managed to read all of it) and I'd reached a point of just feeling bad and not knowing what to do. I still feel bad, and unintentionally complicit, and basically cowardly, but after reading this I feel a renewed commitment to do what I can, and to keep my virtual ears open.
no subject
The thing that helps me these days is to remember that it's not about me. The world is not going to end if I screw up and do something wrong, as long as I hold onto the humility to accept that I have done it wrong and try to do better the next time. Because I've been wrong so many times on the road to understanding those things I do understand, and I will doubtless be wrong many times again.
We learn by making mistakes. We all know this, it's how we got to wherever we are in our lives - we learn our crafts by mucking things up and being corrected, we learn social conventions by being gauche and getting over it, we learn our limits by doing stupid things that go a little too far... this is no different. It can be embarrassing, but that's when I pull out the "It's not about me" mantra.
What I've been increasingly impressed with, really, is how much good is coming out of this. Writers and fans who actually care about this issue are finding each other and realising that there is a nascent community here that can make a difference within SFF. People are strategising and creating avenues to support the evolotion of a more diverse SFF community. It's not going to happen overnight, but it is going to happen. There's been a wave building for some years now, and I think that now it's got the momentum that's needed.
I think it's exciting to be even modestly and peripherally involved with it.
no subject
I've just followed your link over to
Thanks for sharing your insights. Much appreciated :-)
no subject
no subject
no subject
And a very happy birthday to you, fishy sis!
no subject