Fighting the Derail, or Community Announcement
A Livejournal community has been founded in response to RaceFail 2009 that I think needs as much publicity as it can get. (I'd post it to fandom_lounge if not for the topic being so fundamentally Unfunny Business territory.)

It's called fight_derailing, and I'm going to quote from the introductory post:

"During RaceFail 2009, numerous fans have been working very hard to, first, point out that the Fail is unacceptable, and, second, to return to the conversations that the Fail is an attempt to derail: racism in science fiction and fantasy fictional works and in science fiction and fantasy fandoms.

This community is meant to be a place that rounds up the anti-derailing efforts in a central location for the benefit of those who want to continue the conversations about cultural appropriation, racial diversity and multiculturalism in SFF fiction and fandom, racism in ditto, and its intersectionality with other oppressions. It is not meant to displace existing conversations or efforts, but to be a resource that supports them and enables additional discussion and action."

The moderator is starting up a fundraising effort to help fans of color who want to go to Wiscon, but don't have the resources. She's also gathering background information for a similar fundraiser possibly to take place at Anticipation.

Spread the word.

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tachikoma01
2009-03-08 11:47 pm UTC (link)

I'm as incised as the rest of fandom at the 'outing being used to just make those pesky minorities shut up.' And if there's something specific I can do to fix the problem, I'll do it. Like a google farming campaign to de-link coffeeandink's online name from her real name, tell me how and I'll help.

But there's this huge convoluted backstory before you even get to the outing, and I can't bring myself to blame people for not wanting to follow the two-mile-long slow train of fail.

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	lady_ganesh 2009-03-09 12:41 am UTC (link)
	I'm one of the ones who keeps linking to the short summary in snacky's journal, which isn't convoluted at all-- four paragraphs. It's only convoluted IMO if you follow all the backwarrens. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	scifantasy 2009-03-10 02:38 am UTC (link)
	Arguably, the best thing to do to, as you say, fix the problem is to increase the number/visibility of fans of color. Hence, the first major function of fight_derailing: a campaign to raise money for fans of color who want to attend Wiscon but can't afford it. There are a bunch more here. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	microclimate 2009-03-10 02:48 am UTC (link)
	Woow, great, fans of color are going to be used as a visibility prop to appease the conscious of concerned white fans! Says a "fen of color" who is rather tired of all this. But I suppose this means I fail as a human being. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

scifantasy
2009-03-10 02:54 am UTC (link)

That's not the intent, by any stretch. As I had explained to me, when I raised basically the same concern:

"This effort is to get more POC to Wiscon. Frankly, even a few more POC at Wiscon or any other literary sf con will make a huge difference. The numbers attending are that small.

The more POC around, the safer and more empowered the POC present are."

But I'm just a messenger here. By all means, bring your concerns to the community.

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microclimate
2009-03-10 03:02 am UTC (link)

Smart idea, except I've been frustrated with the LJ antiracism movement for a long while. I support the idea of fighting racism. I really do. I just...to be honest, part of the reason why I DON'T like this movement is because it makes me feel like only my race is important, not the fact that I'm a fan. It makes me feel like I'm on a whole other plane of existence from the concerned white fans who are oh so concerned about my "problems". I just want to geek out with everyone else without people reminding me that I'm black and I have ~social problems~.

Not to mention I've just been really turned off by the "with us or against us" attitude that's been thrown around lately. It...I can't see how that would endear many people to join the community.

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	scifantasy 2009-03-10 03:15 am UTC (link)
	shrug As you wish. (Reply to this)(Parent)

tachikoma01
2009-03-10 05:03 pm UTC (link)

The thing I find most stiffling about LJ discussions of racism/homophobia in fandom is actually the following attitude:

"I'm part of this group that historically has a problem with racism or homophobia, however, **I** am not racist/homophobic, therefor, no one else is, and it's no longer a problem. And anyone who says it is is being a bigot against me." And if you try to come back with "Umm... ya, it kinda still is"... Well, that's what seems to have started *this* mess.

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	microclimate 2009-03-10 05:07 pm UTC (link)
	And, yet again, what I find most stifling about these discussions is the "with us or against us" attitude, which...nobody seems to want to address. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tachikoma01 2009-03-10 05:33 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, I definately see your point. I even see it popping up in the comments here. I'm just not sure how to address it. Racism is such a touchy subject that people get their 'anger faces' on, and once the anger faces come out, any chance of a discussion that doesn't put all the pariticipants on the defensive kind of flies out the window. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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