Publishing by Omission (or, Fighting Racism from Your Very Own Nightstand!)

EDITORIAL ASS || FEB 2010

This article was initially published in March 2009, but the author’s handling of this topic is so on point, it is worth reprinting here. — GD

I’ve been sitting on this little article for awhile, not sure quite how to write it. But I’m going to try today. Many people smarter and better-versed than I have brought up a little problem we have in publishing, but it looks like that’s not going to stop me from saying it in my own little way.

But before I start, I want to say this is not a rant–it’s a brainstorm for productive change. I look forward to your thoughtful insights.

So I guess I’ll start here. Racism sucks. It sucks even more in publishing, since mass media is basically the only “thing” with the power to reach lots of people fast, and instead, for the most part, media generators–book publishers among them–find that it is comfortable, happy, and money-padded to carry on with the status quo, give people what they’re used to, and ignore the problems. But yes indeed, racism we have.

The thing about racism, particularly among well-meaning people, is that it’s not overtly, deliberately malicious–most of it is just passivity, or, like I said, people doing again what made them money before. There are some (profound and terrifying) exceptions, examples of actively racist and/or bigoted publishing. But the majority of our sins are sins of omission–of failing to represent authors (and/or characters) of color the way we do white authors.

I’ll borrow the words of Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, who writes that some examples of passive racism include “letting exclusionary hiring practices go unchallenged, of accepting as appropriate the omissions of people of color from the curriculum, and of avoiding difficult race-related issues… All that is required is to maintain business as usual” (“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” 11).***

Dr. BDT is talking about life and the work force in general, but an awful lot of that applies freakishly to publishing. Publishers have a limited number of slots on a given list, so when a strong-selling (white) author comes back with a second book, it’s hard to say no to it–you’ve already seen how it performs. Similarly, if a similar book appears by a new author, it’s awful easy to say yes–seems like easy, sure money. Now round out your standard list-filling for financial security with some standard misunderstandings or platitudes about what readers want and expect, and boom! You have a top-down problem. Writers of color aren’t disadvantaged, per se; it’s just that white authors are very, very advantaged. You know. No one’s trying to be mean. (Or, at least, most people aren’t.) >>READ MORE

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