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| The ugly truth: There's a reason there are relatively few romance novels featuring people of color. |
ASAM NEWS &
VIEWS FROM THE EDGE
This story has the makings of a soap opera, albeit not a romantic one.
Best selling romance novelist Courtney Milan, a Chinese American, has been suspended from the Romance Writers of America after she accused other romance novelists of racism.
She was suspended and the RWA had second thoughts and she received an apology ... while they wait for a legal opinion.
According to TheWrap, Milan accused fellow authors Suzan Tisdale and Kathryn Lynn Davis of racism. One tweet called Davis’ 1999 romance novel "Somewhere Lies the Moon" a “f—ing racist mess.”
The RWA unanimously suspended Milan , a former board member, after Tisdale and Davis filed formal complaints. That sparked a backlash and the hashtag #IStandWithCourtney.
Writer Hillary Monahan summed up the debacle: “Chinese American author critiques white woman’s portrayal of Chinese Americans, white woman calls her a neo-nazi for it, RWA backs white woman and censures author, -BACKLASH-, RWA rescinds censure, everyone eats a giant holiday meal, RWA roils in own vomit. Missing anything?”
Some supporters of Milan went so far as to resign their memberships from the Romance Writers of America, reported the New York Post.
“I resigned from RWA,” author Alyssa Day tweeted on Christmas Eve. “Allowing racists to weaponize RWA’s Code of Ethics against someone calling out that racism goes against everything a code of ethics stands for, and this result is appallingly and profoundly wrongheaded. I’m done.”
“I’m sure RWA thought delivering this news right before the holidays would blunt its reach and it’s like SURPRISE BITCHES WE CAN BE MAD AND WRAP, ” Alisha Rai added.
The Post is now reporting that RWA is now appearing to back off from its decision, sending this letter to Milan: “Dear Courtney, at a meeting today that identified a gap between policy and progress, RWA’s Board of Directors rescinded its vote accepting the findings of the Ethics Committee report and its consequent penalties against Courtney Milan pending a legal opinion. RWA reiterates its support for diversity, inclusivity and equity and its commitment to provide an open environment for all members.”
The decision appears to be temporary pending a legal opinion. Stand by for the next chapter into this saga.
Some supporters of Milan went so far as to resign their memberships from the Romance Writers of America, reported the New York Post.
“I resigned from RWA,” author Alyssa Day tweeted on Christmas Eve. “Allowing racists to weaponize RWA’s Code of Ethics against someone calling out that racism goes against everything a code of ethics stands for, and this result is appallingly and profoundly wrongheaded. I’m done.”
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| COURTNEY MILAN |
The Post is now reporting that RWA is now appearing to back off from its decision, sending this letter to Milan: “Dear Courtney, at a meeting today that identified a gap between policy and progress, RWA’s Board of Directors rescinded its vote accepting the findings of the Ethics Committee report and its consequent penalties against Courtney Milan pending a legal opinion. RWA reiterates its support for diversity, inclusivity and equity and its commitment to provide an open environment for all members.”
The decision appears to be temporary pending a legal opinion. Stand by for the next chapter into this saga.
The racism in the romance novel industry runs deeper than a few authors. According to Milan, racism is structural.
In 2016, she pointed out in her blog that romance novels with minority characters or written by authors of color do not get reviewed by Kirkus Reviews. She wrote:
"On January 15, 2016, a post went up on Kirkus Reviews blog. That post was about celebrating diversity. It also contained this extremely troubling claim: “I rarely get romances to review that are written by or include characters of color. So even when I actually buy a book, or a publisher sends me an author I really want to read, I usually don’t have time—reading that book takes me away from titles I get paid to read.” Let me translate if you’re not seeing what’s wrong with this: This says that Kirkus and NPR (the entities this author works for) by and large do not review books by diverse authors. The author of that post vowed to read more diverse romances in her spare time, but did not say anything about trying to change the conversation at her institutions.""Kirkus Reviews admitted this was their policy without any explanation. "Underrepresented people are systematically being excluded from benefits that are extended to white, straight authors. Kirkus Reviews published a piece admitting that, with only a tiny number of exceptions, they don’t review romances except those written by white authors," her blog post continued.
"These are major review sources. Librarians and book sellers rely on these publications to decide who to purchase. Not being reviewed by these sources, ever, makes it materially difficult for an author to have a break out career in traditional publishing."
"You don’t have to put yourself in personal danger today to stand against injustice. You just have to say that happily ever afters belong to everyone. To say that every author deserves a chance at a career. To stand up and shout that an author’s book should have a chance to be judged based on the quality of her writing, and not on the color of her skin."
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