SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Guardian reports on a new study which has found that
The world of speculative fiction publishing is plagued by "structural, institutional, personal, universal" racism, according to a new report that found less than 2% of more than 2,000 SF stories published last year were by black writers.
The report, published by the magazine Fireside Fiction, states that just 38 of the 2,039 stories published in 63 magazines in 2015 were by black writers. With the bulk of the industry based in the US, more than half of all speculative fiction publications the report considered did not publish a single original story by a black author. "The probability that it is random chance that only 1.96% of published writers are black in a country where 13.2% of the population is black is 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000321%," says the report.
The editor of Fireside Fiction goes on to say...
"Fiction, we have a problem. We all know this. We do. We don't need numbers to see that, like everywhere in our society, marginalisation of black people is still a huge problem in publishing ... The entire system is built to benefit whiteness – and to ignore that is to bury your head in the flaming garbage heap of history."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 13 2016, @02:22AM
I'm sixty years old. I guess I was about 11 or 12 when I discovered Sci-Fi. So, I've been reading Sci-Fi for almost fifty years. Used to be, I had to go to the library, or a book store, to get my books. No internet back then, no computers, nothing like that. Everything was printed on dead tree tissue.
I simply do not recall seeing a lot of black people in the science fiction areas of the libraries, or the book stores. In fact, I don't recall seeing any. It's possible that my memory is faulty. Maybe i was surrounded by black poeple purchasing Sci-Fi books, and my white privilege prevented me from seeing them. Or, something crazy.
So, if black people aren't reading science fiction, one has to wonder if black people are writing science fiction. And, if they aren't writing it, how in hell can we expect their stories to be accepted?
Then again - pen names. I read female authors many times, without knowing they were females. I wonder how many stories I've read that were written by black people, who didn't announce their blackness?
Even if I blindly accepted that black writers are blocked in Sci-Fi, I think that I would naturally ask, "Where are black writers accepted?" The study is limited to one genre. Are blacks prevented from publishing nation wide? Do black people write stories about anything? If I were interested in reading stories by black authors, then I would go searching for their stories within those genres in which they are accepted.
But, searching out black authors would be racist, wouldn't it? I'm no more likely to search for a black author, than I am to search for a white author. Or a gay author. Or a libertarian author. Oh - wait - DAMN YOU HEINLEIN!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13 2016, @02:57AM
I simply do not recall
Yeah, Runnerway, that happens when you get into your sixties.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday August 13 2016, @03:02AM
I simply do not recall seeing a lot of black people in the science fiction areas of the libraries, or the book stores. In fact, I don't recall seeing any. It's possible that my memory is faulty. Maybe i was surrounded by black poeple purchasing Sci-Fi books, and my white privilege prevented me from seeing them. Or, something crazy.
I'm 58. I simply do not recall seeing a lot of black people anywhere I went, including libraries, book stores, school, or my neighborhood.
I was 10. Teacher (Mr Barnes, oddly enough given my earlier posts) told us a black kid would be joining us. Couple days later a black kid joined us. Me, being friendly, said something along the lines of "hey nigger, what's up?". He caught me after school and beat the ever loving shit out of me. I had no idea why, both my parents and church called black people niggers.
In boy scouts I met his parents. They were pretty awesome. By then I'd learned nigger was not a term of endearment.
Fast forward some 40 years, my parents helped found a church that had a black pastor. That pastor presided over mom's funeral.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13 2016, @03:29AM
LINCOLN: What a charming negress. Oh, forgive me, my dear. I know in my time some used that term as a description of property.
UHURA: But why should I object to that term, sir? You see, in our century we've learned not to fear words.
That was 47 years ago, and we've learned nothing yet. Obsession with racism is only impeding progress.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday August 13 2016, @04:04PM
You've forgotten how segregated it was back then; I was five when I saw my first plack person, and embarrassed my mother by remarking how good the guy's tan was. But I, too, haunted the libraries and never saw any black people in them. I still visit the library, we have an excellent one here. There are still few blacks who go there.
How many black scientists are there? I know of only one. There were certainly few blacks in college at SIU in the late '70s. Something like only 1% of Americans are illiterate, but 96% are aliterate. Only 3% of us read regularly, and I suspect that since love of reading is passed down from generation to generation and slaves weren't permitted to learn to read or write, that may have something to do with it.
I know from experience that not one single magazine editor cares what race I am, only how well I can spin a good yarn.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 13 2016, @07:09PM
Well - you make a point. But I must point out that there was segregation, and then there was segregation. Little black children being brought to white schools with police escorts? (Or, in Little Rock, National Guard escort) It's something we all read about. It was something in the news, which didn't affect us little kids in the north. Today, I work with a black man, two years younger than myself, who lived it. We have compared notes, and he's tried to help me to understand the atmosphere in the South. And, I've explained to him that in my home town, all of that was almost meaningless nonsense to children who sat side-by-side in class already. Then again - I wasn't a black kid, so maybe it was less meaningless to some of my classmates.
Your second paragraph is full of good points too. Sometimes I forget where my roots in reading lie. The woman wasn't especially intelligent, but my mother did read to us children. By age five I was as literate as most third graders, and the early start served me well. By fifth grade, when my classmates were struggling to understand words in books, trying to grasp the meaning of sentences, I was already off and running. Yeah, love of reading begins at home, and no amount of schooling seems to replace those earliest days, sitting in Mother's lap, listening to her read.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday August 24 2016, @03:41PM
I just got back from Worldcon Sunday (will post a writeup soon) and there were more black people in my hotel than in the teeming throngs at the convention. Seriously, in thousands of people I saw only half a dozen black people. Of the two black people I met there one was Dr. Epps, an engineer who will be at the ISS two years from now, and an unnamed actor. There were three times as many Asians than blacks.
It almost looked like a Trump rally, except it was nerds rather than rednecks. It's obvious that few black people read or watch science fiction.
I didn't even have kindergarden, let alone preschool, but by second grade I freaked out a teacher and principal during a rainy recess, when I was reading in the library and a teacher asked me what I was doing. "Reading," I answered.
She said "You can't read that!"
"Why not?" I asked, thinking there must be some stupid school rule.
"Because you can't!" I finally understood that she thought the book was too difficult for me.
"Yes, I can!" I said.
"Read it out loud," she said smugly, so I did. She took me to the principal's office to show him or her (I don't remember) this second grader who was reading an eighth grade book. I didn't understand what the fuss was about.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 24 2016, @06:48PM
LOL - almost the same scenario for me, but at a freind's house. I just decided to ride to Danny's house on the school bus, instead of riding home on my own bus. That caused a bit of a fuss with the parents, of course - one house has to many kids, the other house is missing a kid. Second grade kids aren't supposed to just pick and choose which bus they are going to ride!
But, Danny's big brother was in 7th grade. His science book had a cool-looking cover, so I grabbed it, and started browsing through it. Their mother caught me, and told me the same thing you were told - "You can't read that!" "Oh yes I can!" and proceeded to read a couple pages to her.
Everyone except the baby stopped what they were doing to listen to the smart-assed little second grader reading, and mostly understanding, the 7th grade science book.
When my parents arrived to pick me up, I overheard the first of those "Oh my God, he's a GENIUS!" conversations. Phhhttt - you don't need to be a genius to read a few grades over your grade level.