“…A lot of people I’ve met in the past year — clarification; a lot of white people — seem to think the “fail” part of RaceFail lay in the fact that it occurred at all. It was too angry for anything productive to happen, they say; there’s a time and a place for such conversations but not now; there’s a way to have such conversations but not this. The gist of the objections seem to lie in the belief that SFF could have, would have begun the changes that I’ve experienced this year, even if RaceFail had never occurred. The people involved could’ve raised their objections in a calm and reasoned manner, at which point respectful conversations would have taken place, and the genre would’ve listened. We’re all smart, progressive people. We didn’t need RaceFail to make us change.

“To which I say: bullshit.”

I learned about the RaceFail discussion entirely by accident. I suppose I would’ve eventually read something about it somewhere, though, given the circles I run in. I’ll say this much about it: reading the different testimonials and arguments and rants reconfirmed for me that what I’ve been doing for the past four and a half years with this blog does mean something.

It’s unfortunate that this discussion hasn’t spilled over into the comics world to any similar degree. Oh, sure, there are comics bloggers and writers who discuss the racial aspects of comics, but how many have made the connection with SF/F novels? Both media draw from roughly the same audience, after all.

With Marvel and DC, it seems like for every step forward they make towards multiculturalism, they take two steps back: canceling War Machine months before Iron Man 2 opens; acquiring the Milestone characters but refusing to give its most successful character a new series; promising Dwayne McDuffie carte blanche on a flagship comic and then constricting him creatively. Meanwhile they bend over backwards to bring back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen and Steve Rogers (and now Jean Grey again, from what I’m seeing) and give them maximum exposure in their event comics, while new characters like the Blue Marvel, the Super Young Team and the Great Ten may get mini-series of their own, but good luck trying to find them anyplace else.

I’d rather write about independent and small press comics that I like rather than be bothered with the Big Two’s foolishness. If I were part of the SF/F book scene, maybe I’d blog about small press genre books with POCs. I posted a piece about a new publisher specializing in this very thing, though it looks like it may be awhile before they start putting out stuff.

Still, talking about the issues endemic to the POC audience is empowering, and to everyone who kept this discussion going – and continues to do so – I say more power to you.