RACISM CLASH LAST STRAW FOR THE RWA?

That the Romance Writers of America® has a problem with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI, or, more blatantly, every -ism you can name) is no secret. Controversy erupted last March after the announcement of the RITA® nominations, when no authors of color (AOCs) were listed (see my blog post on the subject here) and groups of all descriptions—authors of color, of the LBGTQ community, of varying levels of ability—were forced yet again to explain the concepts of racism, gender equity and ableism to the Nice White Ladies of the entrenched majority RWA® membership.

Some changes were made to the RITAs, including a new process for selecting judges and a mandatory hour of DEI training for those judges. I went through the training myself and found it to be relatively toothless and far too generic to make any judge truly rethink their prejudices concerning the books s/he might be required to score. Worse, the comments from some of my fellow potential judges made it clear they weren’t listening even to those mild messages of “we should all examine the filters through which we see life.”

The storm that broke last week may yet sweep RWA away.

That should have been a scent of rain in the air, a sign of the storm to come. Last week that storm broke all over Twitter and flooded the Professional Authors Network and other forums in RWA. The details of what started it are less important than the ultimate implications for the organization, which may be dire. Members of all ranks are seriously wondering whether the 40-year-old writers’ group, long an advocate for romance writers at all stages of their careers, can survive.

Briefly, the first claps of thunder were heard on Twitter, where an AOC called out the racism she saw in a work of another writer. Two white members of RWA complained of this to the Ethics Board, which, violating procedure, took steps to sanction the AOC, suspending her membership for a year and barring her from holding RWA office henceforth. When previous and some current members of the Ethics Committee protested, resigning loudly and publicly, all hell broke loose. RWA rescinded its action against the AOC, but the damage was done. The RWA President resigned (leaving the President-elect in charge), as did several members of the current Board and untold numbers of RWA members. 

There is even a call for RITA judges to “un-volunteer.” If a significant number of judges were to respond to that call, the contest would be devastated. Books are due to go out to judges in the next few weeks.

A tempest in a teacup, you say. Perhaps. But the comments on the PAN forum, in particular, are a revelation, much as the ugly Letters to the Editor and essays were in the Science Fiction Writers of America "Sick Puppies/Old Dinosaurs" controversy were a few years back. That open pitched battle between the misogynistic, racist elements of the science fiction community and its more progressive leading edge showed as nothing else could just how much bitterness, resentment and just plain wrong-headedness were still holding back a community of supposedly forward-thinking writers.

Now we see just how much prejudice, privilege and just plain narrow-mindedness is holding back our own community of supposedly warm-hearted romance writers. I’ve been following the posts without commenting myself, largely because life has intruded big-time for me lately, but it’s clear so many members, like so many of the white privileged classes of this country, have no idea why people are so upset. They look, but they don’t see, because of those filters they were born, or raised, with. Out of this ignorance, they say, and do, hurtful things. And, often, in defiance, they refuse to apologize for it. If I can’t see it, they say, it doesn’t exist.

One white author who does get it, though, expressed it eloquently. Shiloh Walker said (and I have to paraphrase): You know who doesn’t get to define racism? White people.

Think about that for a minute. It just means that when someone says what we do hurts them, we should believe them. And we should stop doing whatever the hell it is that is hurting them. 

As women, especially, you would think this would be easy for us to understand. As romance writers, we should be the first ones to agree. “Historical accuracy” is no excuse for racism; there were people of all colors in Regency England and Colonial America, even Scotland. There were certainly people with differing levels of physical ability who functioned at all levels of economic success. There were, and are, people of differing sexual orientations and gender specifications. (Native peoples in many parts of the world are way ahead of “western” culture on that one.) And if you’re writing science fiction romance or paranormal romance, there are no “rules” at all. You are free to be as inclusive as your own mind will let you be.

Basically, then, there is no excuse for what is happening right now in the RWA. The question is what to do about it. Some of my very good writer friends have given up and quit. I am seriously considering that choice. A secondary issue here is the failure of RWA to step in to support a group of AOCs in a dispute with Dreamspinner Press. I also found the organization of no help in my dispute with an agent and publisher who had disappeared, defrauding me along with several other RWA members. What else is the organization for? In its push toward “professionalism” it has eliminated the Golden Heart® contest for unpublished authors, and its conferences hold little of interest for indie authors. If its members are getting no return on investment and instead are being disrespected at every turn, perhaps it’s time to leave and find, or found, an alternative.

Thoughtfully, Donna