White Author Plays the "Reverse Racism" Card

[Anxious Girl]

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reveali ... 0983650324

Have fun tearing this fucker apart, FJers. This was provided to me by the wonderful melinapendulum on youtube. :twisted: (I watch her videos.)

[JesusFightClub]

I dunno, not automatically evil? I would need to read the book and know more about the author/publishing house. It sounds awfy like this:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/noughts ... 0552546324

Ms Blackman's books are really really good and that whole series (while it's strong stuff and for older YAs) examines racism. She is black herself and uses her own experiences a lot in the stories. It could be that these books are along the same lines. I know they helped me as a white girl to "put myself in others' shoes" the starting point being I was shocked by the reversal, then I was shocked by me being shocked.

[Anxious Girl]

I dunno, not automatically evil? I would need to read the book and know more about the author/publishing house. It sounds awfy like this:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/noughts ... 0552546324

Ms Blackman's books are really really good and that whole series (while it's strong stuff and for older YAs) examines racism. She is black herself and uses her own experiences a lot in the stories. It could be that these books are along the same lines. I know they helped me as a white girl to "put myself in others' shoes" the starting point being I was shocked by the reversal, then I was shocked by me being shocked.

The problem is, this author not yours, is defining the ideal picture of beauty which are black people as coals, and white people as pearls. Doesn't that seem a little fishy? :?

[linnea27]

"Save the pearls"?

[sassycupcake]

I haven't read the book, but a blogger I follow read and reviewed it, and she found it to be both poorly written and disgustingly racist/white supremacist.

This is her collection of posts about it

http://airellia.tumblr.com/tagged/save-the-pearls

(Not breaking the link because I doubt she'd mind the traffic)

[JesusFightClub]

The problem is, this author not yours, is defining the ideal picture of beauty which are black people as coals, and white people as pearls. Doesn't that seem a little fishy? :?

I have to say I was unhappy about the Pearl thing (why would they use these terms?), but I have been digging around ont' net since reading about this. I normally prefer withholding judgement until I read the book but I read a Native American critique of it which was very powerful. It are here:

http://americanindiansinchildrenslitera ... yts_5.html

The picture of beauty thing, the author has said she wanted to show how in her post-apocalyptic world, things had changed and why. Whether she has done this well or badly, I dunno. I will read the blog posts kindly provided by sassycupcake.

It also seems rather - fantastical? Ms Blackman is an excellent writer and her scenarios are plausible (it's been a long time since I read the books but I remember being struck as well by the parallels with the situation in Northern Ireland). This one just seems like "chuck everything from global warming to shapeshifting into the mix".

[Guest Anonymous]

To me, books like this (and there are quite a few of them, and a movie or two) feel like they're all about the lazy, Twilight Zone-style twist. Like the author is saying: 'Aah, you see? I confounded your expectations, didn't I?' No, dear. You didn't. In fact, you made an incredibly lazy and predictable choice. If you're going to write about fantastic racism you could at least pick something interesting, new and, frankly, less crude.

Also, I do think there are (sometimes) hints of the persecution fantasy about it. A white author (or reader) could pretend that they would be heroic, and noble, and pure of heart if they were the ones facing racist oppression. But the only reason they can pretend this is because it is only a fantasy for them.

Above all, though, I think it feeds into this unhealthy attitude that the only way you can relate to someone else is by being put (not particularly subtly) into that person's position. I don't think that's true. At least, I hope it's not true.

Just to be clear, I do not mean to slam this book (that I've never read). My criticism is of the neat little sub-genre of alternative history and speculative fiction novels that do this exact same thing.

Wording

[Burris]

The problem is, this author not yours, is defining the ideal picture of beauty which are black people as coals, and white people as pearls. Doesn't that seem a little fishy? :?

Notice: I have read neither the book nor the synopsis, so I am definitely talking out my ass here.

For a black woman to compare other black people - perhaps even herself - to being like coal (whereas white people are as peals) is perhaps merely an intimate look at how Blackmore felt at one point.

Some black people almost certainly feel a sense of disenfranchisement - the sort of disconnection from broader society that would make them at once want to belong even while hating the pointless system that precludes and mistreats them.

I am in no way trying to co-opt this story or what people of color experience. I have, however, noticed a similar thing among people with disabilities - myself included.

Our ancestors never faced enslavement. They were, however, often hidden from society and undereducated and treated not only as inferior but in some cases as being unworthy of life and unfit to procreate.

The dichotomy between perfect and imperfect that haunts disabled people could be just as true, albeit for different reasons, as the situation among black people who recognize that, thanks to institutional racism, something as minor as skin color separates them from all the privileges accorded to whites.

[Guest Anonymous]

Notice: I have read neither the book nor the synopsis, so I am definitely talking out my ass here.

For a black woman to compare other black people - perhaps even herself - to being like coal (whereas white people are as peals) is perhaps merely an intimate look at how Blackmore felt at one point.

Some black people almost certainly feel a sense of disenfranchisement - the sort of disconnection from broader society that would make them at once want to belong even while hating the pointless system that precludes and mistreats them.

I am in no way trying to co-opt this story or what people of color experience. I have, however, noticed a similar thing among people with disabilities - myself included.

Our ancestors never faced enslavement. They were, however, often hidden from society and undereducated and treated not only as inferior but in some cases as being unworthy of life and unfit to procreate.

The dichotomy between perfect and imperfect that haunts disabled people could be just as true, albeit for different reasons, as the situation among black people who recognize that, thanks to institutional racism, something as minor as skin color separates them from all the privileges accorded to whites.

You did write a disclaimer, so it isn't really fair to take you to task on this, but the association between black people and coals and white people as pearls comes from Victoria Foyt, the author of the first book mentioned in this thread. Foyt is white. Malorie Blackman, the author of the second book mentioned here, is a black woman but she did not make the coals/pearls comparisons.

[Burris]

You did write a disclaimer, so it isn't really fair to take you to task on this, but the association between black people and coals and white people as pearls comes from Victoria Foyt, the author of the first book mentioned in this thread. Foyt is white. Malorie Blackman, the author of the second book mentioned here, is a black woman but she did not make the coals/pearls comparisons.

Ah - that's what I get for trying write while half asleep. The fact a white writer made the comparison puts a disturbing new twist on the situation.

ETA: My apologies.

[Kristelle]

What a shitty thing to do. White people are not systematically oppressed. Making your heroine angst about how being white makes her low class is ignoring over a century of oppression. Fuck you, Victoria Foyt.

[JesusFightClub]

To me, books like this (and there are quite a few of them, and a movie or two) feel like they're all about the lazy, Twilight Zone-style twist. Like the author is saying: 'Aah, you see? I confounded your expectations, didn't I?' No, dear. You didn't. In fact, you made an incredibly lazy and predictable choice. If you're going to write about fantastic racism you could at least pick something interesting, new and, frankly, less crude.

Also, I do think there are (sometimes) hints of the persecution fantasy about it. A white author (or reader) could pretend that they would be heroic, and noble, and pure of heart if they were the ones facing racist oppression. But the only reason they can pretend this is because it is only a fantasy for them.

Above all, though, I think it feeds into this unhealthy attitude that the only way you can relate to someone else is by being put (not particularly subtly) into that person's position. I don't think that's true. At least, I hope it's not true.

Just to be clear, I do not mean to slam this book (that I've never read). My criticism is of the neat little sub-genre of alternative history and speculative fiction novels that do this exact same thing.

That *is* what this book sounds like, tbh. I'm still quite intrigued to read it, but my intrigue is now tempered by worry as I read the blog posts sassycupcake recommended and the book doesn't sound anything like as good as Noughts and Crosses (which I highly recommend).

Part of the thing with N&C is that it really isn't fantastical in the way Revealing Eden seems to be. And the Noughts (white) aren't automatically pure, noble and heroic - they're people, like the Crosses (black) are, and oppression is not guaranteed to make you a good guy. The themes of terrorism, resistance, racism and sacrifice go through the books - like I said, I saw strong parallels with NI - and while they are strong stuff, it's not gratuitous (sp).

Noting your reactions to the reversal (be you any colour) is more intriguing than imagining yourself in that position. I found out some hidden racism in myself when reading N&C. It actually did the opposite of making me fantasise about heroically resisting oppression. It made me look at how I was perpetrating it.

[Guest Anonymous]

Victoria Foyt is a racist and a big hot mess. There are promo videos on youtube for this featuring a young woman done up in blackface. It's staggering how awful they are, and Foyt will not get a clue no matter how many people tell her that she's doing it wrong. In addition to black people being called "Coals" while all of the other races are referenced as gemstones, Foyt also literally turns a black male character into a sexually enticing beast. People with albinism are called "cottons" (what) Latinos are "Tigerseye" and Asians are "Amber." As loads of people all over the internet before me have pointed out, there are gemstones that could have been used instead of coal that would have been far more in keeping with Foyt's stupid theme - onyx, maybe? Nope, she goes with coal. Not that the book would have been okay if she had gone that route, but sheesh. Obvious racism is obvious.

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Leaving aside the racism (and sexism! of which there is plenty!) of the book, the writing is awful. It's vanity published garbage that I wouldn't use for birdcage liner.

You can read the first chapter or so here if you want to get upset: http://www.studio-e-books.com/portfolio ... ngEden.pdf

**ETA: I forgot to say that Foyt does not understand The Science at all, not even a little bit. Also her solution for global warming and a depleted ozone layer is CAT PEOPLE.

[linnea27]

I think the fact that the people with albinism are "cotton" helps to illustrate that her intentions weren't innocent when she used the term "coal." Her defense is that coal is useful- the Coals picked the term "coal" for a reason, but pearls in that society are useless. I *might* be able to buy that, if she stuck with that theme and named the people with albinism, I don't know, diamonds or something. Like someone said above, it would still be bad, but I might be able to believe her intentions were innocent. But cotton is useful too, and albinos are the most devalued in her society, so the logic of "useful" names for the ruling class doesn't hold. As it is, she has clearly ranked her characters according to her own standards, with pearls being most valuable, cotton coming in behind due to their "otherness" but still valuable, and tigers eye, amber, and coal coming up behind (to further this theory, I'd be willing to bet that her albinos are causasian, and not people of other races with albinism).

And coal? Would she really innocently pick dirty, polluting, global-warming-inducing coal as a name for her characters? Like it or not, she definitely creates an image when she uses that term. As mentioned above, onyx or obsidian or something would be a less loaded term. You would think that in a story about the effects of global warming that the people would no longer be burning coal.

And I still can't get over the subtitle "save the pearls." This title was definitely chosen to rally up the "pearls" in our own society.

[Shasta ODonegal]

I was shocked to find that Foyt is married to director Henry Jaglom. His takes on class and gender have always been interesting. Can't remember if he has ever addressed race in his movies.

[Hane]

Holy moly, Lissar--a hot mess indeed!

In the second clip, "Jamal" looks durn Caucasian to me--just slightly tanned. And "Eden," whinging about how "ugly" she is, reminds me of a middle-school girl I knew who was always going on about how "fat and ugly" she was, until one of the boys said, "You only say that so we'll disagree and tell you how thin and pretty you are. So, from now on, I'm just going to agree with you."

I read the sample chapter you attached. I haven't encountered such lousy, ethnocentric writing since "Red Rain," the only novel I've ever deleted from my Kindle.

[MyNameIsJonas]

Anxious Girl, thanks so much for posting this. I have internet cake ready and waiting for you. <3

I've been following this controversy since late July when it blew up over my Tumblr. Foyt decided to pull this reverse racism biz, and poorly. I have read the book, it's available online, and besides the horrible racism, hyper sexualized black men, uppity black women, and over the top misogyny, the prose is a nightmare. Foyt has released several statements in defense of the book, saying that coal is not meant to be a pejorative ("Get your hands of me you damn Coal!" ---->yes, Eden actually says this, and the author calls it an "incendiary racial slur) I read Malorie Blackman's series a few years ago and this is nothing. like. it. at all. The woman took every racial stereotype she could and tossed it into her book. She couldn't even use the power of Google to find some more plausible scientific explanations for "The Heat". It's a hot mess all around. She's been setting up sock puppet accounts in different places and asking her friends to positively review the book. Her husband left a positive review on Amazon and compared criticism of the book to the Red Scare and Communist Witch Hunt. Yes. He took it there. Instead of addressing legitimate criticism from the POC community, she actually said she didn't believe that an African American readership existed. She's shown no shame in herself so far, and even got Weird Tales Magazine in trouble when they initially decided to publish the first chapter of the book. If you can't tell, just thinking about it makes me angry :lol: White people do not get to decide when racially offensive things are no longer offensive, but Foyt is such a special snowflake that her opinion is the only one that matters.