Tag: racism

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consider juneteenth

A new federal holiday was signed into law this week, a holiday that calls us to remember our history. Ironically, it comes at the same time that some states are declaring it illegal to teach that history.

Look, I am as white as they come, and I’m talking to my fellow white people when I say that we MUST do better. Consider the significance of the fact that June 19th 1865 was two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and two months after Lee surrendered to end the Civil War.

Consider the fact that we, as a people, kidnapped, enslaved, tortured, raped and killed black people for no reason other than the fact that they were black. Consider the audacity of that. Consider that we had to send troops into Texas to enforce the ending of slavery.

Sure, it was a long time ago and none of us was there, but that does not mean that we aren’t culpable for the sins of our forebears, particularly not when so much of the attitude that got us into slavery in the first place is still evident in so many of us today.

Racism is baked deep into our soil, into our bodies. It built the education system, the government. It permeates every aspect of our society and it does not go away by denying it exists. It can only be fought by identifying it, calling it out and trampling it beneath our feet.

To my BIPOC friends and family, I’m here to support you in whatever way I can. I know that the naming of Juneteenth as a federal holiday does nothing in the grander scheme of things and there is so very much work to do. It is a pebble in the stream.

Let’s throw a couple boulders in next.

Happy Saturday, Readers. May the day be educational for you.

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thinky thoughts Thursday

I have had a number of thinky thoughts swirling in my head this week, ranging from ideas about gardening as a metaphor for living to notions about gun control, the medical industry, the fact that medicine IS an industry, the right to live, transgender children and so much more.

None of them have tumbled out whole yet though, so maybe I’ll just swirl them around a bit more.

While I do that, lets do a little navel gazing, shall we?

As an author, I like to pay attention to things being said in the world of books, from buzz about new or upcoming releases, new authors making their debut, books that are “banned” or panned or otherwise talked about.

And, as a fairly liberal minded soul seeking genuine equality/equity, but also understanding that we continue to evolve as a society, I am open to reinterpreting old ways to eliminate or preface things that we now see as troubling or problematic.

So, I support Disney prefacing movies with notes about the climate in which they were created, and not letting children just consume a movie that might have problematic content without engaging parents in the conversation.

And I support a publisher’s decision to pull books from publication due to problematic/racist depictions, even if the author is much beloved. As we have seen a lot in recent years, even people who we adore are not perfect.

So, it is with Dr. Seuss. He wasn’t the perfect children’s author we want him to be. He was a man of his times, and those times and his beliefs colored the work he did. The books that his estate has chosen to stop publishing are still available, if you can find them. They never were big hits, so I imagine even before they stopped producing them they were not easy to locate.

We do have to face the dilemma of what to do with problem people when we love their work, but can not abide something about them. How do you separate the love of all things Harry Potter and the anti-trans stance of the author? How do you continue to hold on to the love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when you discover that the creator is an abusive asshole? How do you hold onto childhood memories with affection when you discover that Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder and others were racist?

I guess that’s something we each have to decide for ourselves.

Photo by Juan Rumimpunu on Unsplash

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of progress and regress

Let’s talk about censorship, theft and becoming better people.

A lot of talk this week has centered around the literary world. Some people are claiming that the estate of Dr. Seuss, you know the people who control the books and legacy of the writer, has no right to stop publishing six of his works that no longer serve the society in which we currently live. Some have even used the word “censorship” in regards to this.

We can start there. Censorship is defined as the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security. The person who wrote the piece, or in this case, those who have charge of curating the piece after the author’s death is not suppressing or prohibiting anything. They are not gathering up all the copies of those books and burning them. They are not telling anyone that they can no longer read the books. They simply will no longer publish new copies of them.

Another thing I’ve seen talked about this week is this idea that authors should not be bothered by having their work stolen and made available for free on various piracy sites. I’ve seen this same argument for music and movies/tv. I’m the first to admit that there have been times I have acquired content with less than honorable means, but usually only as a stopgap measure until I had the money/ability to acquire it legally.

But many are not as diligent about the subsequent legal acquisition, particularly where it comes to books. There seems to be this idea that somehow an ebook should be free, as though it isn’t the same amount of work as a paperback or hardback. The content is the same, it took the same amount of time and effort to create, so why should it be available for free?

As a society, we seem to need to be dragged forward into our next iteration, into a better society, and for every two steps forward, we seem to retreat a step. For every acknowledgement of racism, ageism, sexism, etc., there is a knee-jerk reaction from those who refuse to acknowledge the harm that these -isms cause.

This makes our progress slow, but it is still progress. Keep pulling, Readers. Keep pulling.