If I recall correctly, there was a call recently to "return" the conversation to its origins, discussing the marginalization of people of color both within SF/F fandom and as characters in SF/F works. As such, there is also a movement to provide some financial assistance to PoCs who otherwise might find it difficult to attend WisCon (I don't know if any other cons are in play, though).
However, rather than feeling that the conversation had gone too far afield from its origins, I really appreciated the fact that it had grown and evolved, so that what had begun as a rather tightly focused discussion threw a lot of much larger issues into high relief and forced people to consider their attitudes in many aspects of their lives, not just within their SF/F hobby (or profession, if the person in question is a writer/actor/director, etc.).
Frankly, I found the idea that we were "supposed" to be sticking to the original discussion as hampering to progress as those mice who popped up on many journals calling the mere existence of the discussion in the first place "racist". I welcome a further expansion of the discussion that might consider what you've raised here.
I think that both in the issue you've raised and the previous discussion, what people have been starting to zero in on is the issue of what I will call "accompaniment". This is something we've been working on at our church for years, starting with when we became the first Sanctuary Church in PA to shelter illegal Salvadoran refugees our government wouldn't acknowledge, because the Reagan administration was friendly with the government trying to kill them, and culminating most recently with this (http://tabunited.livejournal.com/4957.html). We're very excited about this coming Sunday and the opportunity to accompany the Lenape Nation as they "come out" after a very long time underground, and to be the most recent signers of the treaty.
As we learn from this whole experience and move forward, I think that all those in positions of privilege--which is relative, as you've noted--might consider the ways in which they can be allies and accompany those who have not been afforded the same privileges, listen before leaping, and invest some time in truly considering what our lives would be like without the privileges we daily take for granted.
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Date: 2009-03-12 05:17 pm (UTC)However, rather than feeling that the conversation had gone too far afield from its origins, I really appreciated the fact that it had grown and evolved, so that what had begun as a rather tightly focused discussion threw a lot of much larger issues into high relief and forced people to consider their attitudes in many aspects of their lives, not just within their SF/F hobby (or profession, if the person in question is a writer/actor/director, etc.).
Frankly, I found the idea that we were "supposed" to be sticking to the original discussion as hampering to progress as those mice who popped up on many journals calling the mere existence of the discussion in the first place "racist". I welcome a further expansion of the discussion that might consider what you've raised here.
I think that both in the issue you've raised and the previous discussion, what people have been starting to zero in on is the issue of what I will call "accompaniment". This is something we've been working on at our church for years, starting with when we became the first Sanctuary Church in PA to shelter illegal Salvadoran refugees our government wouldn't acknowledge, because the Reagan administration was friendly with the government trying to kill them, and culminating most recently with this (http://tabunited.livejournal.com/4957.html). We're very excited about this coming Sunday and the opportunity to accompany the Lenape Nation as they "come out" after a very long time underground, and to be the most recent signers of the treaty.
As we learn from this whole experience and move forward, I think that all those in positions of privilege--which is relative, as you've noted--might consider the ways in which they can be allies and accompany those who have not been afforded the same privileges, listen before leaping, and invest some time in truly considering what our lives would be like without the privileges we daily take for granted.