Online E-fiction Diversity 2009

[keilexandra]

mac_stone has started diversity2009, the much-ballyhooed "Summer of Diversity" project. I think it is a worthwhile endeavor and I am supporting it. Given the comments on mac_stone's original post, I want to share exactly why I am promoting the project.

Disclaimer: I do not know mac_stone's or the other organizers' history in the POC community. But I don't think it matters, just as I despise Orson Scott Card's political views but still keep his books on my TBR list. As I said in the comments of this post: x+1 is greater than x.

Perhaps mac_stone is flaunting white privilege by beginning this project, as many have charged. So? Perhaps mac_stone is in serious need of Anti-Racism 101. So? Perhaps mac_stone is as arrogant and misguided as pnh or that Helix editor who sparked Transcriptase. So?
(ETA: Edited to clarify the purpose of my comparison, using only the extreme example.)

Assuming that x represents the sum total of all efforts to promote diversity, I believe that diversity2009 is at least x+1. This may be a small net contribution in comparison to ibarw, for instance; but it is a positive contribution nevertheless, and it has the chance to become more than just x+1. Why does the organizer's unconscious bias matter? This is a worthwhile project (and in fact mac_stone has offered to step down from the helm, implicitly in favor of a POC), even if it was founded by white people for white people, which is debatable. The POC community talks a lot about recruiting white allies; maybe it's time to actually recruit, which means reaching out to people who don't approach you first and who might disagree with you utterly at first. It means giving the 101 spiel more times than you care to count, it means being frustrated at people's naivete and unconscious privilege but not blowing up at them because of your experiences with other white people. It means answering the same "stupid questions" over, and over, and over again, until you burn out--and if/when you burn out, please keep it to yourself because your caustic comments do not help. I find some people's attitude akin to that in affirmative action regarding Asian students; you're too much like everyone else of your race, so you don't deserve equal consideration.

Be suspicious if you like; but give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I am saddened by the attitude in some of the comments, implying that only POC or "proven" white allies have authority to disagree. If I were not a person of color with a "track record" in anti-racism, I suspect this post would be received quite differently than the anticipated intelligent discussion and disagreement. But why does my race give me more freedom to disagree? We are Other; please, do not "other" those who are not Other, for that truly is racism, too. (For the record, I do not believe that racism requires power, nor that institutionalized racism is the only valid kind.)

That's all. Comments are unmoderated because I have hope in human civility.

ETA2: Also, for those who are interested and have a lot of time to spare, rydra_wong's humungous linklist.

ETA3: And an interesting post on the privilege of politeness. I don't entirely agree--POC have a right to be angry, but they are not the ONLY people with that right. And like any civilized human being, of any race, we have the societal duty to be polite. Racism power imbalances should not change that.

If I were to say something sexist/classist/racist/ablist/etc. I would not expect my friends to say “Well I’m offended by what you said and let’s have a calm discussion of why.”

Among my friends and hopefully among strangers, I would indeed expect just that--a civil discussion that avoids emotion to what extent that is possible. And as the post says, there is a difference between anger and insults; to me, "racist asshole" is an insult regardless of how well it may be corroborated. You can be angry and polite at the same time. Really. I promise you, I have lots of experience with the apparent oxymoron.

Comments

[mac-stone.livejournal.com]

The community needs a co-maintainer, if you're interested. There's clearly too much pain around my involvement for me to be effective in that regard.

I agree, there's a chance for a great deal of good to be done there, though.

[keilexandra]

I have very few "contacts" and no experience in community management, but I am hyper-organized (to a somewhat OCD extent) and take a perverse joy in paperwork. So I would be happy to join the community as co-maintainer, if you want me.

[mac-stone.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm delighted to help with contacts, or do anything else I can do to further the goals of the community.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Just an idea: maybe if you were to be explicit somewhere as to what/how one could participate if one lacks the specific cred of skin that isn't a shade of xerox paper? I don't see anything that says who, specifically, is invited to participate, so I wonder if I'm not the only person holding back out of concern that to approach at this point would be infringing on a need to internally/distinctly organize prior to letting in the allies. Or more bluntly, I don't like getting yelled at, even when I mean well. So perhaps if you could clarify on your posts related to the topic, be explicit, that would be good for those of us (or maybe just me) who aren't so good at the subtle hints.

[keilexandra]

Hmm. That's a good idea, figuring out exactly what we'd like to solicit; at this point I'm mostly just asking for people (of any race) to calm down, look at the project without getting mad at certain people within it, and evaluate it on its own merits. As such, rational discussion and support is what we really need at the moment. But I'll get back to you on the specifics.

I do know that I don't want this project to be divided by "what white people can do" and "what POC can do." It should be "what anti-racists can do," period.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

The problem is that I don't know what I'm evaluating, so I figure if I'm lost, maybe there's someone less mouthy than me who's confused (although I'm like that mostly thanks to being easily distracted, whoops): is the goal to get more people of color writing or is the goal to get more characters of color for people to be reading?

[keilexandra]

The goal is to have more diverse publications, which would apply to both diversity of authorship (though it's more POC published than POC writing) and diversity of content.

[oyceter]

I have to say, I really disagree with you on your final point. If I've offended one of my friends by saying something sexist/classist/ablist/racist, I would in fact not expect them to react politely and civilly and emotionlessly—I'm their friend. Part of that friendship is based on trust, and when I have offended them by being an asshole, I have worn away at that trust. And quite frankly, if the friendship is worth anything, I should be able to accept that I've hurt them and take that anger from them, and expecting them to be dispassionate and calm is really not something for me to ask them.

And yes, I do feel that way about offending people about institutional wrongs, or about offending them in more personal ways, like if I've insulted their mother or condescend to them.

[keilexandra]

I wouldn't expect an emotionless response--far from it. Nor is dispassionate and calm necessarily synonymous with civil (which is why I prefer the word to polite). Civil, to me, means not reacting with personal attacks--it means speaking your mind but not resorting to personal attacks. If one of your friends offended you, would you call them a racist asshole? Or would you confront them and explain that they offended you, would they please stop and apologize? Friendship is based on trust, so I would forgive a friend even if they did call me a racist asshole--because I trust that they don't really mean that, that it is said only from high emotion.

Believe me, I don't have any qualms about offending people. But if I did call a friend a bitch, an asshole, or a similar personal attack in the heat of the moment, I would apologize afterwards even if my reaction was warranted.


Also, regarding diversity2009: Have I offended you by supporting it? And from your experience--for you've far more experience than me in organizing online events like this--am I wasting my time in trying to mend fences with the POC community, given the political liabilities?