Alas, Yet Another RaceFail09 Post
Mar. 11th, 2009 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mithenIf you haven't run into what has become known as RaceFail09, a brief summary: Elizabeth Bear had a reader complain about race depictions in one of her books. Bear responded reasonably at first (she rescinded that later), but her friends and fans did not, and things became ugly. The conversation arched across the SF/F communities and beyond, becoming a sweeping (and quite vicious on the part of some pro authors and publishers) discussion about race, cultural appropriation, and white privilege. There are summaries of links at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metafandom and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rydra_wong; one of the best summaries I've seen of the whole thing is here.
I've mostly just read and thought about these things rather than entering into discussions and posting about them. My reasoning was that, well, I felt it was narcissistic to say "Here's what I have to say on the topic! Listen to me!" I felt it was better to read and absorb and...well, very often to wince in amazed horror at what people were saying.
Today had two posts that broke me, though. The first was "On PeopleFAIL", in which the poster implores people of color to "change that, if you feel that you are mistreated that way. Teach me about how to write about your particular culture or group or race; teach me how to write about them, so that I am doing them justice. Teach me how to be a better person and a better writer by including characters of any type of diversity in my own work. Teach me about how I can change this, so your children will not feel marginalized."
The second wasgerriwritinglog, who posted a very unpleasant message about how she doesn't like people of color whining about their pain, then in comments said she really wanted to understand but no one would explain the experience of racism to her. Seven pages of eloquent, passionate explanations later, she froze all comments and put up one explaining that she is writing a book and "I have a couple characters who are just as self-righteous as I came off in my OP. The reactions that you, the commenters, gave me help ENORMOUSLY in clarifying how these characters will act and react, as well as the people who will work to change them. . . . Thank you all for your time and energy. It is much appreciated."
Just. Just. WTF. No. NO!
People of color do not exist to educate and enlighten white people about racism. People of color are not resources to be sucked dry and discarded with a "Wow, I learned a lot from your pain. Thanks!" People of color are not there to bring me bonbons of sweet information because I'm too fucking lazy to get off my ass and learn something on my own.
I think this is why people of color often don't enjoy or wish to participate in these discussions. Because their personal pain gets used as material, as a thing to be consumed and serve the needs of white people. I feel sickened, literally nauseated, at these people and their selfish, ignorant, entitled attitude.
Which brings me to The House of the Earth. Because I know, and I knew before RaceFail started, that using the historical abysmal evil inflicted on an entire people as a picturesque backdrop for a fanfic about superheroes is...I feel it is heinous. To use the context of slavery in America--not on Barsoom or Gor, but America, where it is our deep shame and our national sin--as the scenery for a story is monstrous. I've been struggling with it as it's really sunk in what I'm doing. I've tried to mitigate some of what I've seen as the worst possible offenses--and here I have to thankdamos, who's saved me from making some even more egregious ethical errors. But I know the ethical problems remain, and I don't think they can be gotten rid of entirely. The story is always going to have as its main character a member of the enslaving race, and because of the blinkers of white privilege I can never be sure I'm avoiding the hideous mistakes I've seen profic writers making during RaceFail. I'm hoping to continue the story, because part of me can't bear to leave the Earth where it is now. I guess...I guess I just wanted people to know that I feel badly about it, and I'm trying not to screw up too much, and I know that I have in the past and that I will in the future.
And so I feel chagrined that at the end this post is indeed all about me, but in the end me is all I can speak for. I'm sorry for mistakes I've made and will make, and I'll try to do the best I can to avoid them.
metafandom and rydra_wong; one of the best summaries I've seen of the whole thing is here.I've mostly just read and thought about these things rather than entering into discussions and posting about them. My reasoning was that, well, I felt it was narcissistic to say "Here's what I have to say on the topic! Listen to me!" I felt it was better to read and absorb and...well, very often to wince in amazed horror at what people were saying.
Today had two posts that broke me, though. The first was "On PeopleFAIL", in which the poster implores people of color to "change that, if you feel that you are mistreated that way. Teach me about how to write about your particular culture or group or race; teach me how to write about them, so that I am doing them justice. Teach me how to be a better person and a better writer by including characters of any type of diversity in my own work. Teach me about how I can change this, so your children will not feel marginalized."
The second was
gerriwritinglog, who posted a very unpleasant message about how she doesn't like people of color whining about their pain, then in comments said she really wanted to understand but no one would explain the experience of racism to her. Seven pages of eloquent, passionate explanations later, she froze all comments and put up one explaining that she is writing a book and "I have a couple characters who are just as self-righteous as I came off in my OP. The reactions that you, the commenters, gave me help ENORMOUSLY in clarifying how these characters will act and react, as well as the people who will work to change them. . . . Thank you all for your time and energy. It is much appreciated."Just. Just. WTF. No. NO!
People of color do not exist to educate and enlighten white people about racism. People of color are not resources to be sucked dry and discarded with a "Wow, I learned a lot from your pain. Thanks!" People of color are not there to bring me bonbons of sweet information because I'm too fucking lazy to get off my ass and learn something on my own.
I think this is why people of color often don't enjoy or wish to participate in these discussions. Because their personal pain gets used as material, as a thing to be consumed and serve the needs of white people. I feel sickened, literally nauseated, at these people and their selfish, ignorant, entitled attitude.
Which brings me to The House of the Earth. Because I know, and I knew before RaceFail started, that using the historical abysmal evil inflicted on an entire people as a picturesque backdrop for a fanfic about superheroes is...I feel it is heinous. To use the context of slavery in America--not on Barsoom or Gor, but America, where it is our deep shame and our national sin--as the scenery for a story is monstrous. I've been struggling with it as it's really sunk in what I'm doing. I've tried to mitigate some of what I've seen as the worst possible offenses--and here I have to thank
damos, who's saved me from making some even more egregious ethical errors. But I know the ethical problems remain, and I don't think they can be gotten rid of entirely. The story is always going to have as its main character a member of the enslaving race, and because of the blinkers of white privilege I can never be sure I'm avoiding the hideous mistakes I've seen profic writers making during RaceFail. I'm hoping to continue the story, because part of me can't bear to leave the Earth where it is now. I guess...I guess I just wanted people to know that I feel badly about it, and I'm trying not to screw up too much, and I know that I have in the past and that I will in the future. And so I feel chagrined that at the end this post is indeed all about me, but in the end me is all I can speak for. I'm sorry for mistakes I've made and will make, and I'll try to do the best I can to avoid them.