RaceFail '09 - Fanlore

RaceFail '09

Event: RaceFail'09
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Fandom: Science Fiction Fandom
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Contents

RaceFail '09 is one of the names given to a large and tangled snarl of racism, misunderstanding, culture clash, poor behavior, and hurt which consumed several interconnected corners of fandom in early 2009. An extensive collection of links addressing the imbroglio (mostly links to LiveJournal or blog posts) is documented in Rydra Wong's journal under the "gcadod 09" tag; the links represent a multiplicity of individuals and viewpoints. The acronym stands for "Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom." An opposing, and individual, narrative is presented in Will Shetterly's the racefail 09 flamewar.

How it began

Avalon's Willow posted a timeline on January 29. [1] The entry at the Feminist SF Wiki also offers a quotation-heavy chronology of the early posts which sparked the conversation.[2] Tablesaw posted an overview on March 9, 2009 [3] that characterizes the discussion as a hypertext and introduces key players and recommends both specific source texts and an approach to following a conversation, "wherein everything refers to something or multiple things, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly."

On January 12, 2009, Elizabeth Bear posted some writing advice in her Livejournal, whatever you're doing, you're probably wrong. [4] In her post she provides her formula for, "Writing The Other without being a dick," a process she defines as, "simple but not easy".

On January 13, 2009 Deepad posted I Didn’t Dream of Dragons [5] on Livejournal (post now hosted publicly on Dreamwidth). Deepad introduced her post with the words, "The following essay (screed? thingie?) is not a direct continuation of that conversation, nor should it be taken as specific to anything she said. I have used one of her books as an example, because context foregrounded it for me, but this is more my commentary on the Western, White novels and blogs I have been reading recently, and my experience as an Indian reader."

Also on January 13, 2009, Avalon's Willow posted an Open Letter: To Elizabeth Bear [6] Avalon's Willow referred to Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron with the following:

It's about my personal confusion that an author so highly spoken of by people I respect, would write about a magical, negro who gets bridled by a white woman after trying to kill or eat another white woman and, to my horror, becoming some sort of beast of burden/big buck protector; my horror at watching the humiliation of yet another black man so that a white woman can be empowered in front of her peers.

Involvement of other pro SF authors

When commentary at Patrick Nielsen Hayden's Livejournal became upsetting to him, he deleted his LJ. His wife Theresa Nielsen Hayden came to his defense, calling his critics trolls, "nithings" [7], and sockpuppets and threatening to maintain a blacklist of all those involved[8]. She argued that because many of the people discussing this were using pseudonyms, the conversation was meaningless. Many fans were dismayed by TNH's response to the situation, including her lack of respect for the practice of persistent pseudonymity which has been an essential part of online fan culture for years[9].

Will Shetterly made the argument that class prejudice was more significant than racism. When the argument between Shetterly and coffeeandink became heated, he and Kathryn Cramer outed her, linking her Livejournal handle with her legal name.[10][11] Shetterly and Kramer denied that she could be outed and cited her history of using her legal name in public posts on her LiveJournal so anyone could find her online and at Wiscon.[12]

Coffeeandink's response, in part, noted that:

But as reprehensible (and as painful for me, personally) Will and Kathryn's behavior has been, and as deserving of censure, I do not want people to lose sight of the fact that this isn't simply a case of individual people acting poorly, or even individual people performing racist actions. It would be easy for white people to say, "Science fiction isn't racist; a couple of people just overreacted." But this overreaction comes out of and depends on white privilege and racism as a social institution, system of thought, and system of power and oppression. The racism in science fiction -- the ongoing erasure and denial of the people of color who are right here and speaking about their representation and misrepresentation -- is not the property of two individuals.[13]

Shetterly's LiveJournal was made private, but his posts remained on his main blog.[14] Other blogs offer their interpretation of his argument, often with quotations.[15]

John Scalzi initially jumped on the bandwagon with angry rhetoric, but then retracted his statements when he realized what was going on. ("All right, here’s the thing: I’m an arrogant schmuck, but I can also listen from time to time. After I went off earlier this week, a number of people I trust came to me and told me I was being unfair to a lot of people, and in varying ways walked me through stuff I missed or lacked context for, and asked me to engage that brain of mine and think about it."[16]) He then invited Mary Anne Mohanraj, an SF writer of color, to guest-post on his blog.[17]

vito-excalibur read through the first 275 comments to Mary Anne Mohanraj's post, linking and summarizing and concluded that the discussion was a good example of Racism Bingo. "If you've ever wondered what people mean by playing bingo? This is it. You can just check off these squares as you see them, predictably, over and over:"[18]

Apologies

By March of 2009, Elizabeth Bear was suggesting a Cease fire.[19] She explained that,

See, I said I was out of the great pan-fandom fail of 2009. Honestly, you can't call it a racism debate anymore, or a cultural appropriation conversation. It's not.
But it keeps following me home, and I'm really getting sick of it, because it's not about communication. It's about us versus them. And the problem is--the problem I see, and the reason I've been refusing to comment--is that there is no us and there is no them in this fight. It's a false dichotomy, and worse, it's a waste of energy.

Bossymarmalade responded with sees fire[20] "You see, I couldn't just decide not to have a conversation about race anymore, because it follows me home. My race issues ARE my home. Other people can pick them up when they want to look at something shiny, something exotic tasty foreign bright colourful strange exciting; they toss them around, try them on. Start to explain them to me and find different names for them, like classism and learning experience."

Later iterations of the conversation included apologies from some of the "pro" SF/F authors involved. (Sarah Monette: "For what it's worth, I recognize that I failed, and why, and next time I am determined to fail better."[21]) (are there other links to add here?)

Meta-conversation about derailing

Eventually RaceFail devolved into meta-conversation: about white fans' perennial "derailing" of the conversation to make it about "tone" and white experience instead of about the experiences of fans of color, and about whether and how white fans should (or must) speak out against racism in SF/F and media fandom.

As ciderpress noted:

The discussion that Seeking Avalon's Willow and deepad started and many other PoC participated in and the points they made regarding cultural appropriation, different PoC experiences with life in general, the media and the effect that cultural appropriation has on our emotions, our narratives and our ideologies was derailed. Instead, the discussion became focused on accusations of reverse-racism, racism against white people!, classism, anti-intellectualism, jealousy and grandstanding etc and the arguments that followed.
In fact, the whole focus and point of the discussion devolved into several PoC having to defend themselves, their integrity and their character for having a non-dominant-white-mainstream opinion and for expressing it. It became, as these discussions do without fail, almost completely about white people's feelings, white people's actions, white people's reactions and white people's needs. Even a discussion about cultural appropriation, about us and our representation? The whole conversation is appropriated, our concerns are very much silenced and lost in the furore.[22]

In bossymarmalade's words,

[N]ow it has reached the point where people are making posts claiming that the PoC who have objected to being reduced to "write everybody as though they were white on the inside!", who have objected to dismissal as being "unable to critically analyze literature in the proper university-trained manner", who have objected to the old, tired trope of "if you don't like how white people write you, why don't you just write yourselves?" were being ABUSIVE for challenging those statements. In a "tone" that isn't completely detached, unemotional, and coldly academic...
Apart from the blatant, mind-boggling way in which an issue that supposedly began with an interest in respecting the Other has suddenly and aggressively become yet again All About the Hurt Feelings of White People, I am astounded that so many people wanking about their precious academic credentials are completely ignorant of how goddamn OFTEN PoC have seen these same generalized dismissals. Too emotional, too loud, too angry, too uneducated, TOO FUCKING COLOURED. [23]

Positive change

Some fans have argued that RaceFail and its ilk are "worth it" if consciousness-raising happens as a result. Others argue that this is offensive to fans of color whose suffering thereby becomes a learning tool for white fans. (Need links!)

Regardless, some good things have arisen partially thanks to RaceFail 09; including the founding of Verb Noire, an assistance fund aimed at helping fans of color afford Wiscon [24] and foc_u at livejournal, "a place to serve as a central hub to combat the destructive effects of RaceFail."[25]

At Escapade 2009, Aral and Sinead co-led a panel called "Becoming Better Allies: Consciousness-Raising for White Fans." [26] The panel overflowed its original timeslot and a second session was scheduled for later in the con.

Also notable is the creation of livejournal community Fight Derailing:

During RaceFail 2009, numerous fans have been working very hard to, first, point out that the Fail is unacceptable, and, second, to return to the conversations that the Fail is an attempt to derail: racism in science fiction and fantasy fictional works and in science fiction and fantasy fandoms.
This community is meant to be a place that rounds up the anti-derailing efforts in a central location for the benefit of those who want to continue the conversations about cultural appropriation, racial diversity and multiculturalism in SFF fiction and fandom, racism in ditto, and its intersectionality with other oppressions. It is not meant to displace existing conversations or efforts, but to be a resource that supports them and enables additional discussion and action.[27]

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Timeline, by Avalon's Willow, accessed May 14, 2009.
  2. ↑ RaceFail 09 at the Feminist SF Wiki, accessed May 14, 2009.
  3. ↑ O HAI RACEFAILZ: Notes on Reading an Internet Conflict, by tablesaw, posted March 13, 2009, accessed May 19, 2009.
  4. ↑ (accessed May 15, 2009).
  5. ↑ (accessed May 15, 2009)
  6. ↑ (accessed May 15, 2009).
  7. ↑ on the meaning of the Old English word "nithings": January 29th 2009. elspethdixon. Holy mother of God *is horrified*. Accessed 20 May 2009.
  8. ↑ January 26th 2008. TNH. I'm taking this about as well as you'd expect. The original post is now locked, but was captured here. Both accessed 20 May 2009.
  9. ↑ cf. for example: March 2nd 2009. cereta. On pseudonyms. This post also references the later Kathryn Cramer incident. Accessed 20 May 2009.
  10. ↑ LJ post with no subject, by coffeeandink, accessed May 19, 2009
  11. ↑ The people whites don't see, by coffeeandink, accessed May 18, 2009
  12. ↑ Will Shetterly the pseudo-pseudonymity of Coffeeandink, posted in racefail: a socialist critique of neoliberal anti-racism blog, Friday, March 6, 2009.
  13. ↑ Clean-up and hiatus, accessed May 18, 2009.
  14. ↑ no subject
  15. ↑ A themed summary of RaceFail ‘09 in large friendly letters for those who think race discussions are hard, by Ann Somerville, in the "Derail the fourth" section, accessed May 18, 2009.
  16. ↑ Walking myself back, accessed May 18, 1009.
  17. ↑ Mary Anne Mohanraj Gets You Up to Speed, Part I, accessed May 19, 2009.
  18. ↑ Bingo, Mr. Scalzi. BING-O., by vito_excalibur, posted March 13, 2009, accessed May 19, 2009.
  19. ↑ (accessed May 15, 2009).
  20. ↑ (accessed May 15, 2009).
  21. ↑ Sarah Monette (truepenny). January 19th 2009. the whole ugly mess. Accessed 20 May 2009.
  22. ↑ ven ve voke up, ve had zese wodies, by ciderpress, posted January 22, 2009, accessed May 18, 2009.
  23. ↑ Okay, I haven't posted anything about, bossymarmalade, written January 18, 2009, accessed May 18, 2009.
  24. ↑ (Wis)con or Bust: Fans of Color Assistance Project , and the community, accessed May 19, 2009.
  25. ↑ foc_u, first order of business, accessed May 18, 2009.
  26. ↑ Escapade Panel Report - "Becoming Better Allies: Consciousness-Raising for White Fans." by Aral, posted on April 9, 2009, accessed May 21, 2009.
  27. ↑ fight_derailing profile page, accessed May 21, 2009.
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