Looking Back on Books

I started collecting books from my childhood that I remember enjoying at the time. Many of them are out of print but I can find them used online. The Fairy Rebel, Companions of Night, The Enchanter’s Glass. The one I’m talking about here is The Taker’s Stone by Barbara Timberlake Russell, which I brought from my hometown of Atlanta to California with me.

Reading this book again, I wanted to know if Russell was still writing and what else she has published. A quick Google search led to another book of hers, Maggie Amerikay. Amerikay? Really. And also the cover looked suspect so I checked it out. The synopsis on Amazon reads like this:

Grade 2-5-The year is 1898, and Maggie McCrary has recently moved from Ireland to New Orleans, where her father hopes to one day buy land. […] He befriends a young Negro boy who yearns for the old cornet on the barrow. […] Nathan tells her of a job as a scribe for Daddy Clements, an old man who tells her stories about being taken from Africa to America, fighting in the Civil War, and his people’s fight for freedom. Maggie listens and learns, but also teaches him that her people had similar struggles. […] This handsome picture book reveals the plight of immigrants at the turn of the century while paying tribute to the city where jazz was born.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools (*editing by me*)

I don’t know Barbara Auerbach from New York City Public Schools but whoa. Wow. The history of the largely white Irish is definitely not the same as Black folks. Conflating them based on anything that they they might have in common is not only ignorant but dangerous. A derailment of the Black struggle is oftentimes signified by remarks like “Maggie listens and learns but also teaches him that her people had similar struggles”. It is much more respectful to talk about what these groups have in common without diminishing the differences and intensities that make them unique.

Even though I’m passionate about it, I try to avoid talking about racism on this particular blog because I know it’s a difficult topic for many people that is oftentimes passive aggressively glossed over and derailed. And I’d rather focus on what I’m writing honestly. Unfortunately for people who don’t want to hear it, race and my identity as a Black woman writer come into that. What these stories and even book descriptions might be telling children makes me worry–as a potential educator, a Black woman, an aunt, and a writer. I was horrified to learn that this book was published in 2006. It reminded me that mainstream publishers and writers are hardly qualified or dedicated to compassionately, fairly, and intelligently writing about race, especially when it comes to the reality of Black people. If I had to decide whether I wanted to buy Maggie Amerikay or put it on a reading list based off the synopsis by Auerbach, the answer is No.

Do I think people shouldn’t write because I think a synopsis or their book itself has issues? Part if me thinks, YES, DONT PUT ANYTHING OUT INTO THE WORLD THAT MAKES THINGS WORSE! Another part of me says, Write and let write. It’s not like you can stop them anyway and even if you could, would you?

Counterpoint-point–

The art cannot be separated from the artist, and the work of some writers gives me cause for concern.

[**Edited–so tired of my reader auto-correcting the wrong stuff as I’m typing.]

Fresno Writer’s Group–Why I’m Quitting

I attended about nine meetings with the Fresno Writer’s Group and I’m quitting. I first talked about my problems with the group in the post Writing Alone. I didn’t want to leave and I tried to make it work but I have no other recourse. Its a small group and I really shouldn’t have taken it so seriously but I gave some time and effort to it and I want to give myself the space to express what I’ve experienced. These are the prime reasons I’m leaving the Fresno Writer’s Group.

BIGGGG # 1) RACISM

The day I walked in, a member of this all-white group made a racist joke and they all sat there and laughed. One of their e-mail members sent me an overtly racist e-mail after I asked them to specify if their work contains violence (including racism) before e-mailing it out for critique. The micro-aggressions have not stopped, even after I complained to the group organizers over several e-mails full of explanations when they appeared to be confused. The co-facilitators of this group, Wayland Jackson and Jeff Cates, are obviously seasoned white racists who are trying to convince me that my perception of them is skewed by unfounded prejudice. They have no intention of checking themselves.

Shannon,

You are entitled to think what you want about me, and I realize there’s nothing that I can say that will change your mind if you’re convinced that I hate anybody based on the color of their skin. You’ve been offended by things I’ve said and done, but don’t assume that I’m saying or doing anything with the intent of offending you. I hope you’ll think about this.

–Jeff Cates

2) Membership

Their membership changes monthly and its obvious that its a small club for the three or four core members who attend regularly and they don’t really care who is there otherwise; they make no effort to encourage membership growth or diversity.

3) Location

The new location is too far out of my way to bother anymore. And its summer, too, 100 degrees+ some days. Simple as that.

4) Age Group

The writers facilitating the group are not only all white but over fifty. I call it like I see it: They’re definitely set in their ways.

5) “Amnesia”

The organizers literally don’t know who’s been there and who has left until Jeff decides to drop writers from the mailing list for their absences. There have been several occasions where neither Jeff nor Wayland remember I was at a meeting.

6) Leadership

As with any group or organization, its hard to address the problems when the leaders are the ones causing it. Its even harder when you’re the only Black person in the room trying to address it because you’re the only person it effects.

~

Though not unexpected, its a huge disappointment that both group leaders refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Its the racism that bothers me the most and the oblivious ease and comfort with which they deny it. I’ve been in enough situations like this and I should’ve stopped coming the first thirty minutes I noticed this bs. Can’t blame a writer for trying.

I quit. Its not worth my time.