http://neeshameminger.blogspot.com/2010/03/hood-passes-home-invasions.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zetta-elliott/breaking-down-doors-my-se_b_473336.html

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In response to Nat’s question: “What can would-be allies do to keep from being hurtful?” I think, once again, we need multiple strategies. One thing I’d like to see is pressure placed on the children’s publishing industry so that by 2015 they’re publishing twice as many authors of color. That seems reasonable to me–double the number of PoC getting published. Since PoC are about one third of the US population, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect nearly 10% of published books to be *BY* PoC. Now, that doesn’t mean white authors can’t write ABOUT PoC. But if you look at the stats now, more whites than blacks are having books published *about* blacks. I don’t think that’s right. So blog about it, write to publishers, start a petition, educate others–do *something* to “offset” the injustice. I think that would help…and if you’re in doubt, follow Justine’s lead! Talk to PoC and find out how they feel, and what they need from the publishing industry.

I’ve been asked to write something for The Huffington Post–I think it goes up tomorrow, and would appreciate comments so folks know this topic MATTERS to a lot of us.

Zetta’s comment was an expression of frustration with white authors getting it wrong when they write about non-white characters & with white writers writing non-white having a bigger chance of getting published than brown writers do. Both of which are perfectly reasonable positions and the second of which is demonstrably true.

I frequently wish non-Australians would not write about Australians or Australia because they so often get it wrong. But, like Zetta, I am not God so I cannot enforce that wish.

That is all Zetta said. She did not say you are not allowed to write about non-white people. She did not say doing so is wrong. She just expressed a wish.

In her response to Alma above, Zetta was very explicit about her position:

“I wouldn’t try to stop any writer from writing about anyone. I have my personal preferences, but in the end, I don’t support censoring artists.”

I don’t see how she could have been more clear cut.

You can write whatever you want to write. No one has the power to stop you. Stop freaking out at someone expressing their honest opinion.

Because I’m now finding the responses predictable and repetitive I won’t be letting any more “OMG! White people can write whatever they want!” comments through.

In doing the historical research for the book, I discovered that my gggg-grandfather was black, and my ggg-grandmother was Native American. Am I still white? Does discovering this heritage give me more ‘right’ to write this book than I had before?

And I have to say, ‘no, it doesn’t,’ but being ‘white’ didn’t rob me of the right to write it either. Culturally, the USA is one big schizo when it comes to race, and although that may be my problem, it’s not my *book’s* problem. My book just wants to be written, and it seems to have chosen me to write it.

I hope anyone who writes would understand that sentiment.

So I what I would like to know is: What can would-be allies do to keep from being hurtful? Do you, or does anyone here, have any strategies? Or is this something I should keep searching for answers to? Because I really don’t want to be party to any oppression or exclusion, intentional or not, born of ignorance or of malice.

I don’t yet believe (I could be convinced) that all white authors avoiding all non-white characters is the ideal solution- but I’m pretty sure that isn’t really what you were saying. I’m not okay with the way things are, either. And now that you’ve drawn attention to this, it seems only right that we start looking for a conclusion.

So my general feeling about why there are so few published POC authors out there is that it’s probably just because there are numerically/populace-wise much fewer of us than the white majority in the US (and Australia, etc). I’m not sure what the actual percentages are (percent of POCs in the general populace vs in publishing), but if, for instance, Asian are only 6% of the US population, and every race produces the same tiny percent of good writers, there will obviously be a lot fewer published Asian authors than White.

Which is why, even though I would hope to see more and more authors of color spreading out (or being allowed to spread out?) to genres beyond the stifling bounds of minority/hyphenated literature, we’re still going to be a pretty small number for a long while.

That’s why asking white authors not to write about POC characters (or asking POC authors of one race not to write about others) is a pretty counter-intuitive thing to do, in my humble opinion. Don’t we want MORE diversity in our literary canon? Isn’t the point of diversifying to help folks of different races become more comfortable/familiar with one another? When a White author writes a POC protagonist (and generally gets it right, or is at least loving and respectful), I feel happy, because I perceive that as a step toward all of us getting comfortable with each other. I, personally, write lots of White protagonists b/c, obviously, born and raised in the US, I’m extremely comfortable with whtie people, and once you’re comfortable/have really taken people of another race, etc, to heart, you may dream up stories about them as much as you do about characters of your own race–a muse knows no bounds, right?

So why shouldn’t they be able to write about POC characters? As long as someone isn’t trying to pass off sheer, baseless moonshine as truth, I think it can only be a good thing.

Granted, I do hope that folks of any race who want to write about another will DO THEIR RESEARCH. I definitely understand Zetta’s discomfort when a well-meaning author writes something outside their scope of experience and messes it up to a cringe-worthy level (and were completely well-intentioned while doing so). Sadly, I’ve run across a case or two of this, and those little errors really surprised and kind of hurt me, I’ll admit. Because these (generally) White, educated, open-minded, sci-fi/fantasy geeky authors are who I kind of consider “my people” intellectually, since we share so many opinions, hobbies, etc, and I feel I really get them. So when there’s a moment where it turns out they don’t “get” ME, it’s a little bit sad. =\ But I understand their good intentions, so I just let it go. After all, they haven’t had the exposure (because I’m not published yet ), so I can’t really blame them. Things will get better as more POC authors step into the field.

So yes–I am all for getting more POC authors published like Zetta said! But that doesn’t mean White authors need to step back for us or anything–a good author, regardless of race, doesn’t need a handicap to “compete.” I’d welcome one and all to write POC characters without fear–and, to return to Zetta’s initial complaint–I’d also welcome POC reviewers to criticize what’s odd or wrong CONSTRUTIVELY, because that’s the only way we can learn.

Interviews/ProfilesGail Carriger interviews Blake Charlton.AV Club interviews Peter Straub.John Scalzi’s The Big Idea: Alex de Campi.Fantasy Book Critic interviews Jacob Asher Michael.Brian Ruckley answers reader questions.Australian SpecFic Snapshot …

It saddens me that you can read such a heartfelt post and pull anti-semitism out of it. If anyone here is playing “Oppression Olympics” I believe that it’s you who is doing so.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fromswastikatojimcrow/relations.html

Another PBS special which may shed more light on the subject.

On such a good post on racism, it would be a shame for gentile privilege to mar it.

Hey, Laura–you’re so brave to lead a critique group! And you’ve always been courageous about speaking publicly on the subject of white privilege in the industry. As you point out, in a critique group there’s an expectation of constructive criticism–and that’s healthier than an expectation of a five-star review, whether you earned it or not…of course, reviews come out *after* the book’s written so corrections can only be made in the next book. I think every reviewer brings different tools to the critique process, and that means reviews can be varied. But again–whose review carries the most weight?

Alma, I wouldn’t try to stop any writer from writing about anyone. I have my personal preferences, but in the end, I don’t support censoring artists. When you write, “But both those people of color and I are equally human, equally people, and thus equally qualified to be written about by me or by other “white authors”,” I would only ask that you continue to acknowledge we are NOT equal within the industry. So it’s great that you are committed to diversity in your stories, but that commitment (which I and many other people of color share) carries more weight with you b/c of your white privilege. And when/if you opt to write a novel with a person of color as the protagonist, a white editor might respond more readily to your particular way of telling a story and your novel might get chosen over the novel by a person of color. So I just want white authors to know that going in. Maybe your book will be chosen b/c you wrote a better story. And maybe your book will be chosen b/c you have greater access. And maybe your book will be chosen b/c white editors feel more at ease working with white authors. Who knows…I do sometimes wonder, however, if white editors would try harder to find authors of color if they didn’t have a steady supply of white authors ready to act as stand-ins, so to speak.

Alvina–I don’t rate books on Goodreads either! And I agree–there’s no need or excuse for malicious reviews.

Listen, I fully understand the frustration of the rest of this post – that those people who really DO understand the context through living it would be the BETTER people to write the books about characters of color, and that often those authors cannot do so because of the current undercurrents (and often enough over-currents, perfectly blatantly obvious ones) of the industry, and of the world in which it exists.

But when the white authors “leave people of color alone” they are immediately slagged for writing nothing else than their own lily white vanilla world and ignoring the POC altogether. And this is ALSO a bad thing.

On the whole, then, as a white author I would prefer to try and write about the things that are not-me and risk getting things wrong and learning from the experience if I do rather than shut my eyes to everything but my own back yard and pretend that nothing else other than me myself and I and those exactly like me exist.

No, I haven’t written a full novel about a protagonist who is a person of color, although I’ve had characters in novels who could fall under that description and I’ve written short stories about people who are either overtly or by implication not the pale skinned ancestors who throng my own personal history. I was born white, in Old Europe, but I simply will not allow the rest of the world to be denied to me because of an issue related to the amount of melanin in my skin. I would cheer and applaud to see more books by Latinos, Native Americans, Indians, Filipinos, both African Americans and African Africans (yes, preferably with covers that illustrate same, without the publishers having to be rapped on the knuckles about it) and I’m willing to do what I can, under the circumstances, to make that happen, to make that world dawn. But in the meantime I will write the stories that come to me, populated with the characters who win their particular parts, be they POC or not, as the story demands of me. If I screw up I fully expect to be set straight. But both those people of color and I are equally human, equally people, and thus equally qualified to be written about by me or by other “white authors”. It’s a first step – treating everybody as a human being and not some dark- or white-skinned alien from Planet Prejudice will go a long way towards knocking down walls which are long overdue to be knocked down. “Leaving POC alone”, as you wish that “white authors” would do, would, in my own opinion, build more walls than it would help to tear down. I’d prefer to share this world with the brothers and sisters who might look a little different from me rather than stare at them across barbed wire and high iron bars and back off slowly when they approach so that they might be “left alone”.

We belong to each other, black AND white. Not to exploit, to insult, to belittle, to demand, to dismiss or to denigrate. But to learn from one another. To care about one another. And to share one another’s visions.

Of course, there is a whole other dimension when you have people of color trying to tell their stories in a white-dominant industry. So I can understand the concerns about being critical. But isn’t it ultimately patronizing to only review and respond positively to books? I would hope that thoughtful, respectful – but also honest responses would mostly be valued. Yes, they might hurt after a first read, but we all know when something gets at something that feels or sounds right. Or else we have to find the confidence to fully disagree. But it would be a boring world where we didn’t talk about things in full color, nuance and share our rich and varied responses to art. So in the end, I’m for respectful and thoughtful honesty.