Don't point to white women pretending to be Black as proof that it is in fact "more advantageous" to be so. Blackface isn't new, isn't designed to uplift/empower Black people, is in fact whiteness continuing to dominate and profit by taking on the veneer but not the oppression. I remember as an undergrad reading case studies of white people who "took on" poverty, homelessness, any number of marginalizations and experiences, and guess what they always had? A home to return to if it went bad. A salary, a network, a privilege. I can't lay it down.

This (readers not having the range) is why it's important to call it what it is: cultural incompetence and illiteracy. Readers gorged on western, white-centering storytelling will think you failed at something you were never attempting, because they can't identify YOUR story.

https://twitter.com/lanewriteswords/status/1301262499287896071

The only solution to this is to correct the imbalance by producing more of our stories--but in the meantime, we will face criticism from folks who've been taught that they decide what is and isn't correct storytelling. Even when they're not the target audience.

All the way up to adulthood, society successfully got me to eschew or feel uncomfortable with honors specific to my racial identity.

Yes, me. I tell y'all these things to let you know how thorough socialization is and how desperate the need for deprogramming in all of us. The jig of course is that white supremacy (the western world) is built on affirmative action. Measures that correct for intentional oppression aren't that. Which is why "free, white, and 21" was erased, and whiteness went invisible.

When we correct, it looks like an advantage.

We need to have a conversation about the flimsy arguments anti-Blackness employs, and why folk keep falling for it.

I do not have to read a book with an offensive premise to know that the premise on its face is offensive and inappropriate. (See: Confeder@te and HBO.)

Sit down. Remember this? Read it again, and tell me why as a descendant of enslaved ppl whose oppression has continued unabated, and whose heritage and identities have been stolen by the same oppressors, I should pretend I can't see an attack before it lands.

https://twitter.com/BCMorrow/status/1276955676309413889?s=20

I'd just like to once again bring your handiwork to your attention, PW and Kirkus. I'd like you to take note of other Black women named. Almost as if this same narrative has been weaved before. I hold you responsible. The writer of this post (who I've hopefully edited out) notes that they got my tweets from Kirkus' article, but that I haven't taken them down.

Explain why I should mute my opinion when the issue is that 2 publications chose to frame a cancellation as being down to me. Pardon?

I wrote a whole book about the abuse and vitriol leveled at Black women for speaking, and while folk celebrate the book, it's truly something to be simultaneously experiencing that vitriol myself. I am 100% unapologetic about resisting a culture that gives time and space to white authors to speak for the rest of us. I will speak on it. They shoulda been grateful I replied and didn't quote-tweet. Becuz my point wasn't to incite a dragging, but a reconsideration.

It's Juneteenth but I just found out my brother was denied release today. Black man, six years for a non-violent crime, and EVERY variable must be weighed except the one about them putting him in jail with adults when he was 16. Who pays for that. #AbolishPrisons I'm trying to imagine the emotional and psychological torture of being denied on the day you thought you were being released, of applying 30 days later, knowing a yes can still become a no. Who can survive this, and if they do, to become what. #AbolishPrisons

Back to @JuneteenthBkFst and watching this awesome panel on Black women writing memoir and personal essays. BEEN a fan of @Karnythia and @Keah_Maria, and sooo enjoying getting to know @tnwhiskeywoman! Whew, @tnwhiskeywoman sharing wisdom from @tayari: when you write fiction, people look for the truth, and when you write non-fiction, people look for the lie. Felt that in my spirit. #JuneteenthBookFest

When I get off this phone, we need to talk about the white fragility that has folk talmbout "ally fatigue" and "pivoting to positivity" and why that's violent and anti-Black af. Y'all clearly already understand, so lemme quote myself, cuz while "allies" might be tired after 3 weeks, I've been talking about this long enough to do so.

I am so glad that condemning anti-Blackness doesn't seem to be fringe this time around. I am so moved by what seems to be such enthusiasm to support and amplify Black voices. But I want to talk about an aspect some folks might not have (known to) consider. (1/?) It is not accidentally that Black voices have been suppressed, including in the arts. @LEEandLOW put out the numbers for the publishing industry. What does that mean for readers, from a sociological perspective? (2/?)