This is the email I wake up to from one of the longest sitting board members of the national literary organization I am in. This is why #publishingsowhite #PublishingPaidMe #bookcriticismsowhite #BookReviewingsowhite 
This is the person who is directly deciding what books win prizes, what books get reviewed and who reviews books. This directly affects how much money authors can negotiate for their next book. This is why #publishingsowhite matters. #BookReviewingsowhite
BACKSTORY: I have been trying to get this organization to put out a simple statement that says Black Lives Matter and racism is bad for one week now. The tactic has been DENY ATTACK DELAY DELAY DENY DELAY DELAY and now THREATEN. #publishingsowhite
This is the President’s reply in which she says she “appreciates his perspective” which “shines unlike anyone else’s.” She calls these objections “valid” and worthy of “respect.” There is no acknowledgement of the #racism and anti-blackness in this email. #publishingsowhite
This is the next board member’s reply who “also appreciates this input” because All Lives Matter and denies institutional responsibility and wants to say that racism is bad but not really so bad. Still no mention of the racism and anti-blackness in the original email.
The #racism and anti-blackness go deep. This year’s poetry judge spent last year’s #poetry deliberations ranting that Black poetry isn’t as crafted/valuable as white poet’s poetry. The book she was dismissing was #TheTradition by @jerichobrown & it won this year’s #PulitzerPrize
Then I gave a 10 minute craft talk and close reading on the value of black poetry. The #dupex! The #goldenshovel! So much genius I’m not going to list here BECAUSE GODDAMN. BLACK POETRY. And then a white male board member said he was going to recruit more critics to drown me out.
I know that a narrative is now going to be created that by speaking up against the racism I experienced I am going to be painted as a bully. But "our silence will not protect us," as Audre Lorde says.
So, effective immediately, I resign from @bookcritics because racism. It is not possible to change these organizations from within, and the backlash will be too dangerous for me to remain. Love to all. #equityinpublishing #PublishingSoWhite #publishingpaidme
