Quite recently, something rather nasty happened to K. Tempest Bradford. On this blog, you know her as the angry black woman.<\/p>\n
For various reasons, Harlan Ellison believed Tempest to have said some nasty things about her, so he wrote a publicly available letter which she discusses here<\/a>. It contained the following paragraph (the “she” refers to Tempest):<\/p>\n She is apparently a Woman of Color (which REALLY makes me want to bee-atch-slap her, being the guy who discovered and encouraged one of the finest writers and Women of Color who ever lived, my friend, the recently-deceased Octavia Estelle Butler). And she plays that card endlessly, which is supposed to exorcise anyone suggesting she is a badmouth ignoramus, or even a NWA. Ooooh, did I say that?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Harlan later apologized to Tempest for this behavior, writing that:<\/p>\n Apparently, I received inadequate information, some of which I interpreted incorrectly, some of which was simply wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tempest accepted this apology. You can read his apology and her acceptance here<\/a>.<\/p>\n I have no interest in dredging up the fight that caused these things to happen, and for all emotional intents and purposes the fight has been had and apologized for, and the apology accepted, said and done. However, this fight did happen in public, and I’m glad to see that the Carl Brandon society has written an open letter about it, outlining some guidelines that they hope science fiction and fantasy writers who are interested in opposing racism and sexism will bear in mind in the future.<\/p>\n The full text of the Carl Brandon society letter is here.<\/a> Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n 1) The use of racial slurs in public discourse is utterly unacceptable, whether as an insult, a provocation, or an attempt at humor. This includes both explicit use of slurs and referencing them via acronyms.<\/p>\n 2) Any declaration of a marginalized identity in public is not a fit subject for mockery, contempt, or attack. Stating what, and who, you are is not \u201ccard playing.\u201d It is a statement of pride. It is also a statement of fact that often must be made because it has bearing on discussions of race, gender, and social justice.<\/p>\n 3) Expressing contempt for ongoing racial and gender discourse is unacceptable. Although particular discussions may become heated or unpleasant, discourse on racism and sexism is an essential part of antiracism and feminist activism and must be respected as such. There is no hard line between discourse and action in activism; contempt of the one too often leads to contempt of the whole.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I think these principles are abstractable to many contexts. Thanks to the Carl Brandon society for an intelligent response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Quite recently, something rather nasty happened to K. Tempest Bradford. On this blog, you know her as the angry black woman. For various reasons, Harlan Ellison believed Tempest to have said some nasty things about her, so he wrote a … Continue reading