By Shon Bacon <http://chicklitgurrl.wordpress.com/>
November 17, 2008 Is It Time for a Change in Publishing Black Literature? http://readersrooms.com/wp-content/authors/Shon%20Bacon-93.jpg Recently, I read a post on author Bernice McFadden's MySpace blog - <http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=104202531&b logID=446786829> Will a Black President Help Me, the Black Writer. You should definitely take the time to read it in its entirety (if you don't have Bernice as a friend on MySpace, you might need to add her first). In the post, Bernice talks about (and this is my summarizing her post, mind you) how President-Elect Barack Obama represents a different view of Blacks in America, a view we don't often see in media. We're so used to seeing Blacks in stereotypical roles - dealers, hustlers, druggies, hoes, and the list goes - unfortunately - on and on. As Bernice states in her post, "Obama is representative of the Black American we seldom see in publishing. Meaning, he is not a whore-monger, drug-dealer, drug user or absent baby-daddy. He is not a slave to designer labels and he does not wear bling. We have not seen him ducking into a bodega to buy a forty, he does not congregate on street corners, and no source has come forward to reveal that he smoked a blunt before his debates with John McCain." Her question - Will a Black president help me, the Black writer - comes from the notion that if we can elect a Black president, can publishing houses open their eyes to the idea that Blacks have a myriad of experiences and as such, there should be a myriad of stories written to reflect those experiences - and not just those very few experiences we've seen countless times. Here was my response (polished a bit here) to her post: I think just as Obama started with a grassroots campaign of believers, black writers who want a "change" need to start a grassroots campaign, too. The people of America saw Obama for nearly two years - with his eloquent words - tell them that change could happen, that it was time to happen. He tapped into the future, the youth, to support his advances. He looked into the eyes of elderly white people and said, "I can help you, too." He looked at Republicans, those who could barely get up the nerve to say they were tired of their party, and said, "I know how you feel, don't tell me. Let's fix this thing together." Just as Obama connected beyond Blacks and sparked the change that took place on the second best day of my life, those black writers who want a change in the publishing industry have to fight for the change and connect beyond their color, too. And, unfortunately, it doesn't come from telling the publishing industry - yet again - that they need to change; they don't buy it, no matter how much convincing we try to do. They want to see the numbers, they want to see the sales, they want to SEE the change. So, I guess, the question is how do we start that grassroots campaign for change in the publishing industry for black writers? How do we convince our "constituents" that we are worthy of being read, of being published so that it's not just about us - the writers - "complaining" (as the industry might say - "sour grapes"), but it's about the people who are ready, who are craving for more diversity in black literature? Do we do more self-publishing (or as I like to call it "indie publishing") of diverse works? Do we become voices in various forms of media so that we can be spokespersons for those who are publishing diverse works? Do we form consortia derived from Black-oriented publishing houses, PR firms, marketing firms, book clubs, magazines, TV networks, radio stations so that we can disseminate information about those diverse works? How do we regroup and move forward in a way that promotes all arrays of Black literature.and not just to Black readers, but to all people? Can we? What say you? http://readersrooms.com/?p=1455 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
