Another white person washes their hands of Millenia Black
Ed Champion says he’s not interested in Millennia Black’s case anymore because he says her veracity is in question. And the reason? Well, he says Lynne Scanlon comes closest to the reason.
Housekeeping #1: For those who have emailed me on the Millenia Black story this past week, after several conversations calling into question the veracity of what has been claimed, I have decided to stop pursuing it. I have neither the time nor the inclination to proceed further — unless, of course, a reputable publication pays me to write an investigative article. But if you remain curious as to the why, Lynne Scanlon comes the closest in her speculations.
Lynne Scanlon’s reason that MB’s complaint is unwarranted because it’s all about marketing, not race. She says forcing MB to to have her book only marketed to blacks is just good business. Her reasoning that an author should market himself by whatever he has to offer that’s unique, including his ethnicity, is true. But in this instance it’s complete bullshit.
Only black authors are limited and segregated into a niche by their race only. Using your ethnicity to appeal to a market is not the same as being shoved into a box where only that particular market can see you. The Irish example that Scanlon used is completely irrelevant. Irish authors aren’t marketed to solely Irish readers no matter how much they may use their ethnicity in marketing.
Racists won’t research enough to know that the issue with us isn’t the existence of the AA niche. If the content is ethnic, sure, why not the niche? And there’s not a darn thing wrong with appealing to people because of race. What’s wrong is when you’re forced into a box and the content of your book automatically disregarded. Angela’s Ashes sits with the bulk of other books, not in its own section, as does the Joy Luck Club and myriad other ethnicities and cultures of authors and characters. It’s only bulk of black authors who have to be set apart.
Only a chosen few black authors deemed universal are allowed to sit among the other books. Racists cloud the issue with bullshit, because they don’t care to know what we want–particularly as it’s so simple and reasonable:
We want our books to be categorized by content. If our fiction is primarily ethnicity-based, such as street lit, yes, put it in the AA section.
But why should my mystery go there? Why can’t I be just a mystery author if that’s what I write? Sure, I’ll use any uniqueness about myself to market my book: that I’m black, a woman, anything. Other authors do. But the question black auhors ask is: Why can’t I be a mystery writer just like all the other mystery writers, from Tony Hillerman to James Patterson, no matter what the ethnicity of their characters?
But this isn’t an issue to the Ed Champions and Lynn Scanlons of the world because of their unearned personal privilege due only to the skin color they were born with. I don’t know who Ed Champion is, but lemme guess, he’s white and thus has absolutely no worries about black racism iin publishing. Am I right or am I right?
Much like how the Germans stood by in Nazi Germany, it’s not an issue to racists how blacks are treated.
Black authors got excited about MB standing up because we know we can’t do it. I don’t have the huge amounts of money to spend or the willingness to destroy my dream and writing career to directly attack racism against blacks in publishing through the court system. Rosa Parks had an army and movement behind her. And we know that sometimes it takes a Rosa Parks.
If MB’s case isn’t solid, if for some reason she can’t see it through, it’s something to be mourned, not gloated about as the racists are doing, while gleefully calling her a liar.
Racists enjoy the umbrage they can take to stoke their feelings of superiority.
Racists will try to lynch any black person who tries to stand against institutional racism, because their racism makes them feel better, it’s a huge source of their self-esteem. Just listen to the satisfaction of conservative pundits as they spew their hatred and lies against blacks.
Call the way publishing treats blacks, as a whole, sound marketing and good business practices all you want. Slavery was a good business practice too.
ADDED: Black authors can’t concern themselves overmuch with racists. I like to draw attention to racists because 1) instead of expending any energy understanding what anybody black has to say, they spend their energy trying to define racism, define us, and create smokescreens since they have no clue and 2) it pisses them off.
We need to work toward writing the better book and work with what we’ve got–and right now that’s the niche. I can’t expect the potential distribution and privilege that any nonblack author gets automatically, but I can be a damn good writer for my black readers. Look how long it took them to see what they were missing by ignoring black music! It’s what we’ve been doing for generations and the only way to stay positive and move forward.
(As Gwyneth quoted Langston Hughes, let me echo . . .)
“The road for the serious black artist, then, who would produce a racial art is most certainly rocky and the mountain is high. Until recently he received almost no encouragement for his work from either white or colored people… The present vogue in things Negro, although it may do as much harm as good for the budding colored artist, has at least done this: it has brought him forcibly to the attention of his own people among whom for so long, unless the other race had noticed him beforehand, he was a prophet with little honor.” — Langston Hughes
Posted in Racifying Genre Fiction |
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
It just amazes me that folk get so torn out of sorts when ever we name something what it is. A racist practice is a racist practice. Period. Saying that something isn’t racist when it is doesn’t make it any less racist. And it’s not like anyone is demanding that folk own and acknowledge their white guilt and white-skin privilege. (Although, I firmly believe that they will feel so-oo much better if they did and then did some work to rid the world or oppressive racist systems. But, hey, I’m not forcing the issue. Do you and I’ll do me… Whatever…) We’re just naming our experiences and our pain. Don’t attack people for trying to work through the oppressive systems that are stifling them.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:49 pm
I inquired on his (Ed Champion’s) blog about what Millenia’s editor said when he spoke to him/her and he basically said that I had to provide him with my real name before he’d reveal it! Now tell me, he’s the one who said he’d report on what he found…so why’s he hiding it? Perhaps because what he found isn’t necessarily favorable to the publisher? Why now so reticent about what he was told that made him believe Millenia is likely just seeking attention as opposed to exposing a racial imbalance and injustice?
Again, you have to ask. Would they be saying these same disparaging things if Millenia was a white Jew making the same complaints?
He’s dropping it because he’s riding the bigot broom with Lynne Scanlon. He likely spoke to people on the inside who lied to him, but it’s more convenient to believe their statements are far more veracious than a “nigger’s”.
Forgive the bluntness, I hate that word, but this situation is really hurtful. I cannot imagine what Millenia’s going through, being the only one taking this on. She’s in for it, boy. Big time. But I think she knows exactly what she’s up against and is going for it anyway, and I really respect that.
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:26 pm
[...] Monica Jackson declares me a racist because I refuse to pursue the Millenia Black issue further. [...]
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:56 pm
I got a link from EdRants! Heh. He called me a myopic demogogue. The man is psychic. How could he know about my utter nearsightedness and how I’ve never denied my tendency to unadulterated demogoguery? I won first prize from the Kansas Press Association for an opinion piece! (Reseach that!)
Seriously, all one can judge another on the Internet is by their written word. His taking pains to investigate a person who feels wronged by a large corporation to the degree that they want to sue speaks for itself. Then he investigates by calling reps of the corporation and, completely unrelated to her complaint against the publisher, the black bookstore that offended her by asking her race before a signing? Right.
How many times have you white authors been asked your race before a signing? Be honest now. (I sure wish Konrath would say how many times he had to certify he was white. He just signed this summer at 10,000 or so bookstores). If it’s never happened to you, don’t say how you’d handle it because you don’t have a clue. But I seriously doubt that Vivian down at Rainy Day books in KC makes sure her white authors are white before the signings.
He does not get the point at all. Talk about myopia. It’s not all about MB’s case. It’s the principle. And again, he spews a lot of words, but not one about the principle that made MB feel wronged in the first place–the existence of racism toward blacks in publishing.
He actually writes this
Pleeeze. There are thousands of acts of apparent racism in publishing. It’s institutional racism at its best. This racist society doesn’t ‘lap up’ stories about institutional racism. Their mostly white readers give a fuckall about it as much as Ed Champion does. Did you read any back of the bus stories before Rosa? No, you didn’t. How about any black kids being segregated before Brown? No? And you aren’t going to read any stories about how black authors opportunities are limited within publishing because of their race either until after some future court case, if we ever get that far in this political climate.
So what if MB’s suit is not viable? Who did she hurt but herself? The racists are saying she was trying to get PR, to call attention to herself, (in other words use the race card). What she did was probably destroy her career. The point is the principle she founded her potential case on, as many black authors sitting at the back of the bus will attest, is as rock-solid as Rosa Park’s.
I call it like I see it.
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:05 pm
This makes me sick.
Do you think if Ed Champion had uncovered information that discredited Millenia’s claims he’d have been sitting on it all this time? Puleeze. It’s been many months. In view of some of the inconsequential crap he posts about, how long would it have taken to rattle off a one-line update saying Millenia Black was proven to be a liar because yada yada, end of story? Instead he grew dead silent, even when folks were inquiring about an update; and since the inquiries wouldn’t stop, he emerges with this unsupported assault on her integrity….
Isn’t it obvious he’s hiding something? Go back and read his original posts. How come he never gave the update of what Millenia said, what the publishing folk said? What the bookstore owner said when he spoke to these people? Is it because he doesn’t have the “time” to? Can’t be. It makes no sense. If he’d uncovered solid proof that Millenia was a liar, he would’ve aired it a long time ago. They are too hungry for her blood and guts. Instead here he comes with an obtuse dismissal for lack of “veracity” simply ’cause the publisher said, “We’re innocent!”
Champion’s an obvious bigot. Maybe he knows it, maybe he doesn’t, but just as Lynne Scanlon’s true colors were revealed, so have Ed Champion’s with the way he handled this particular story. Can’t stop saying that there is no way he would address this the same if this were happening to an Author Goldberg, Weiner, Guttmann, Weinstein, Springer, etc.
Why is it that some white individuals are so willing to abandon integrity just so they can attempt to prove that cries of racism today are unfounded….Like Monica says, it’s vital to their sense of superiority, it sustains their self-esteem.
What are they going to do if they find out that Millenia Black has indeed filed a lawsuit against Penguin? Will they apologize for the slugs at her credibility as publicly as they’ve declared this lynch-fest? And by the way, what happened to Scanlon’s saying she would call Penguin’s legal department? Isn’t it funny how they suddenly get dead silent with the so-called “investigations”? And it looks like she’s not going to post Claudia’s comment about the book covers. Oh no. That would be presenting a little too much evidence leaning in Millenia Black’s “favor”. Can’t have that.
October 24th, 2006 at 11:30 am
A huge caveat is that this issue would not have crossed Ed Champion’s mind again if I hadn’t called him a racist.
I called him one because I believe it’s true, but it was impolite.
I come across many racists, as I’m sure all other blacks do, but we never actually call them that. We know they’d turn red and explode all over us.
Calling Ed a racist (as his statements are) got attention to an issue I think is critical, but possibly negative attention to me from many whites, because the R-word makes many of them crazy, no matter what, unless there are white sheets and pointy hats involved, and shit, I just noticed the page ranking for his blog (Scanlon’s is far more modest). That’s NOT good for me as an author.
My New Year’s resolution will be not to call anybody’s racist ass racist, at all, or ever, as in line with the White Folk Rules of Interracial Interaction.
I got some time for my book to come out, so maybe they’ll forget, at least a little, especially if I come off in person as non-threatening and non guilt-inducing to racists as Obama.
Something to practice, huh? I will start blogging about innocuous thngs such as the writing process to launch the new moi. (Probably should still change my name though. Don’t think it’s the plan, but will discuss it).
October 24th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Wow a blatant racist calling someone else a racist. How interesting.
I meet racist people every day too Monica, and you are clearly one of those people though thankfully I haven’t had to meet you
(also, do you seriously think creating this kind of PR, if indeed that is what it was, wouldn’t help your sales? There are thousands of people in the lit circle online who now know her name and book titles who would never have heard of them otherwise.)
October 24th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Merely recognizing racism and responding to it makes one racist?
Many people who rarely, if ever, experience racism seem to think so. I’ve always wondered why.
What do you call nonblacks who recognize and label racism and racists?
October 24th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Right, that is exactly what I meant
*rolls eyes*
Hypocrisy is honstly too boring of a thing for me to spend anymore time on.
And when you feel free to fling around the term without any real logic or explanation, I see no reason to one up you on your own site.
October 24th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Oh wait, I forgot the Black People Rules of Interracial Interaction.
That no matter how racist or ignorant or fallicious a black person’s comments are, you can’t point it out. Black people are exempt from any wrong ever thanks to their magical skin.
October 24th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Racism is a real word, with a real meaning, such as poverty, abuse and war are real words. .
Domestic abusers generally don’t like to hear from battered women either, you notice?
It doesn’t take a hypocrite to use a real word. It does takes a certain type of person to not tolerate hearing it so much that they feel called upon to attack the person saying it.
I leave Chan’s comments as a witness to the sort of person who doesn’t want black people to merely speak their reality–because it makes him uncomfortable.
He won’t think about why it disturbs him so–why he wants to attack and call names just because someone else said it. At most he will hurl more abuse.
But you know why and should pity him.
I’ve said at every corner at this blog that racial differences are insignificant and people should be regarded the same and judged by the content of their words and actions, not their race.
But racists always project their own anger and hatred, talking and ruminating on the imagined hatred and anger of anybody who recognizes who they really are.
Anybody who has been here more than a minute knows that many of the people who link and comment here are nonblack. Many of the people I respect and admire as authors and also in the blogosphere are nonblack.
Only racists come here talking about hate and frothing with anger because some home facts were mentioned.
Shut up Chan, and go find some other outlet for your racial projections and resentments.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Well it looks like you sent “Chan” my way. He appears to have chosen my blog for his next outlet, albeit as a lengthy, anonymous insult.
Monica, I really appreciate your advocating support for this w/o wavering at all. You have no idea what it means to a lone voyager. Thank you. ((hug))
And I want to encourage you to remain in good courage no matter what. I’m well aware that the backlash can be frightening and discouraging, but remember this - it can NEVER be any worse than what’s been sacrificed for justice in the past. It’s because of those sacrifices that we even have the ability to protect our rights today….Keep fear where it belongs.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
I was thinking about you, Millenia, as reflected in my next post. I hope I was on point, but if not, I don’t mind corrections.
I’m just sick of all these white folks insinuating that you’re dissembling and lying for attention along with crazy conjecture.
I talked about contracts and the how they work to keep authors in the AA niche.
I hope you delete some of those assholes off your blog. They are running hogwild anbd giddy with racist attacks. Amazing how they love to attack any black person who mentions racism and is vulnerable.
October 25th, 2006 at 12:31 am
I decided not to delete them and left a comment about it. No censorship needed around there - unlike other places I won’t mention - because they speak volumes. And I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to speak out, and even more so once a suit was filed.
Thanks again for feeling my pain. I’m masking the hurt with focused anger. I’ll allow myself to feel it later….much later. When it’s all over.