Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #istandwithcourtney
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Just dragged my sorry, nap-taking, flu-day-22-or-is-it-23, feverish ass to my computer to write to board@rwa.org, the email for the remaining board of @romancewriters. Here's what I wrote. (And it took every ounce of self-control for me to use SNAFU instead of clusterfuck.) 
@romancewriters Please, RWA members, take the time to write to the board! #IStandWithCourtney #RWAShitShow
@romancewriters Transcribed email to RWA for screen-readers! #RWAShitShow
To the remaining board of directors of RWA, elected and allegedly appointed:
I’m a twenty-six year member of RWA, having joined as my first book was published in 1993. I’m also a recipient of
To the remaining board of directors of RWA, elected and allegedly appointed:
I’m a twenty-six year member of RWA, having joined as my first book was published in 1993. I’m also a recipient of
Despite my not wanting to do this Looking back At The Decade thing, I was sitting here thinking about the defining moments of 2009, 1999, etc., thanks to that @lizzo post.
One of the things that comes immediately to mind from 2009 is RaceFail.
One of the things that comes immediately to mind from 2009 is RaceFail.
It happened in January of that year, so in January of this year several people approached me (and other folks who were involved) asking if we'd be interested in a look back at it. I said no. A few people I know said no.
One of the reasons I said no is that a Look Back would imply that RaceFail ended and there's a legacy. Yet, in some significant ways, RaceFail has not ended nor been resolved, and a whole bunch of people did not learn from it despite the efforts of BIPOC in SFF lit.
Okay, about this #RWA #IStandWithCourtney mess, having compiled all this info over the last few days, I'm going to go out on a limb and take a guess at what went down.
This is largely me speculating, just to be clear. Strap yourselves in, this is gonna be long.
This is largely me speculating, just to be clear. Strap yourselves in, this is gonna be long.
So... Courtney Milan is making waves in the RWA, pushing for diversity and inclusiveness, calling out the Nice White Ladies (NWLs) who have been the backbone of the org for years in spite of their bigoted tendencies.
Tisdale/Davis/Grimshaw come under fire, and they don't take it well. Because how could they be racist, right? They don't hate people of colour! They're not card-carrying members of the KKK or neo-Nazis!
Why is the mean Chinese lady attacking us?!
Why is the mean Chinese lady attacking us?!
Reading the horrors of #RWA, I’ve done my best to keep my mouth shut and just learn. Because I am a writer coming from a place of privilege, I didn’t think I had the right to add more fuel to the fire
But the fact is, even though I am white & able-bodied, I am bi, neurodiverse and write characters like me in #LGBTQ historical romance, and this problem of hatred toward “other” isn’t just at the national level
I joined #RWA 2 years ago so I could enter contests and help kickstart my career. In the 14 months I contest-ed, I entered 18 and won or finaled 14 times. In 1 contest, I was the over-all winner & “won” a mentorship (more later)
*emerges from piles of laundry and cat toys and emails*
hello SFF friends, I see that in the midst of the ongoing trashfire, a number of you have expressed an interest in supporting romance writers! I'm delighted to hear it! A THREAD 👇
hello SFF friends, I see that in the midst of the ongoing trashfire, a number of you have expressed an interest in supporting romance writers! I'm delighted to hear it! A THREAD 👇
(If you have somehow missed this ongoing clusterfuck and wish to catch up as the flames keep somehow?? rising higher, here you go: twitter.com/i/events/12103…)
I've seen great support for MRK's invitation to romance writers to consider SFWA. I hope those who can do: at the very least, SFWA to the best of my knowledge has a functioning grievance committee (the ongoing DSP nightmare, ohmygod.) and Writer Beware does fantastic work.
@JennaGuillaume Here is an attempt at an extremely (*extremely*) truncated version:
1. In August this year, ex-Borders buyer Sue Grimshaw was announced as an editor for Marie Force's publishing company. It was pointed out that her previous buying practices were shady, as was her Twitter history.
1. In August this year, ex-Borders buyer Sue Grimshaw was announced as an editor for Marie Force's publishing company. It was pointed out that her previous buying practices were shady, as was her Twitter history.
@JennaGuillaume 2. SG and that company parted ways, but she remained acquisitions editor for Glenfinnan, run by Suzan Tisdale, and ST jumped in with a video to talk about how SG totally wasn't racist, okay?
@JennaGuillaume For more detail on that whole aspect of the saga - Teach Me Tonight covered it at the time, including a transcript of the video. teachmetonight.blogspot.com/2019/08/racism…
The response to being called racist should never be, “I’m not racist.” The response shows a fundamental misunderstanding of racism, how it works, and how to grow out of it. When used as a defense, the statement communicates “therefore nothing I do can be racist.” 1/13
Racism is not a fixed state. Racism is a pattern of thoughts and actions that often come from prejudices so ingrained that they’re hard to see in ourselves. 2/13
Racism is sometimes a knee-jerk reaction. Sometimes it is an instinct or a fear. Sometimes it’s not interrogating why something you view as mundane is offensive to someone else. Often, it’s immediate defensiveness. 3/13
To join SFWA, "Qualifying works must be in the English language in science fiction, fantasy, horror and *related genres.*"
Romance writers are our cousins.
Ghost? = fantasy or horror trope
Premonition? = fantasy trope
Scientific discovery = SF
Romance writers are our cousins.
Ghost? = fantasy or horror trope
Premonition? = fantasy trope
Scientific discovery = SF
Romance and SFF are related genres.
Not always closely related, I'll grant, but in the ways in which we are shunned by "literature?" Absolutely. We have a lot of common ground relating to publishing, both trad and indie.
Not always closely related, I'll grant, but in the ways in which we are shunned by "literature?" Absolutely. We have a lot of common ground relating to publishing, both trad and indie.
As president of SFWA, please accept my invitation to consider our organization if you feel your work has a kinship with SFF, even a tenuous tie.
sfwa.org
sfwa.org
I've debated whether or not I can say something about this for the last 24 hours, but seeing tweets like this are a kick in the gut & I can't remain silent. RWA's statement that the ethics committee finding was unanimous was factually incorrect-they likely meant a panel-a subset
of the committee. But here is the bitter, nasty truth - they formed a new panel without informing the existing committee. I am a member of the existing committee that was never informed of the complaint. & when I see people raging against the ethics committee I feel utterly sick.
They're raging against me. I had nothing to do w/this horrific decision. I believe it is because they bypassed procedure & the committee I am on that they had to rescind. I don't like how this was handled by RWA & the only reason I haven't resigned yet is because I want answers.
Spent two hours rage-reading the #IStandWithCourtney debacle and was trying to formulate my thoughts...but then saw this. Fuck it. No patience to formulate.
I used to be deeply involved in @romancewriters, and I'm enraged but not surprised that it got to this. (1/?)
I used to be deeply involved in @romancewriters, and I'm enraged but not surprised that it got to this. (1/?)
@romancewriters There are several threads here, all tied up in one garbage package:
1) Blatant underbelly of oldskool racism in RWA
2) Massive, necessary changes that members like @courtneymilan have tried to push up the hill
3) A paid RWA staff that financially benefits from status quo
1) Blatant underbelly of oldskool racism in RWA
2) Massive, necessary changes that members like @courtneymilan have tried to push up the hill
3) A paid RWA staff that financially benefits from status quo
@romancewriters @courtneymilan First, some background. I was the awards ceremony committee chair in 2012, so I was deeply involved in a v. small piece of official RWA national work. I was committed to @romancewriters, but also privately unhappy with how little actual power the committee had.
Okay, one more thing is bugging me about the @romancewriters decision and #IStandWithCourtney before I shut up and go back on hiatus.
And it's that Suzan Tisdale is presenting herself as marginalized and speaking truth to power based on differentials in platform size.
No.
And it's that Suzan Tisdale is presenting herself as marginalized and speaking truth to power based on differentials in platform size.
No.
For a while now a lot of people have operated under the erroneous assumption that platform size is an equivalent to systemic privilege, and it is not. Especially not for marginalized folk.
And the RWA decision has proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt.
And the RWA decision has proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt.
A white cis straight woman with a small-to-middling platform was able to successfully deplatform a WOC with a middling-to-large platform simply because her racism was called out.
And the systems in place upheld her white privilege.
Despite Courtney's higher Twitter followers.
And the systems in place upheld her white privilege.
Despite Courtney's higher Twitter followers.
