[Libs-Or] "American Dirt" and the Social Justice Warriors

Tue Feb 4 11:03:30 PST 2020

Thank you, Marci. The biggest crux of this issue really seemed to be around
the fact that this book was billed as a diverse and *authentic* voice, the
money that backed its publication and profits, and the inability for
publishers to offer even a splinter of these types of opportunities to
brown authors. As Diedre pointed out, the #DignidadLiteraria & Presente.org
could potentially be great thing that comes out of all of this.

This is an incredibly bad take on a nuanced controversy, and the use of the
phrase "Social Justice Warriors" to demean writers of color who have been
systematically shut out of the publishing industry (and were *not *threatening
the writer but voicing their dissatisfaction) is very telling.

*Candise Branum*
Director of Library Services
Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM)
503-253-3443 x134 <(503)%20253-3443>   |   75 NW Couch Street, Portland, OR
97209
<https://maps.google.com/?q=75+NW+Couch+Street,+Portland,+OR+97209&entry=gmail&source=g>
|   library.ocom.edu

*Pronouns: She, her, hers**Want to donate? Check out our book wishlist
<http://a.co/7TjGlRX>*

On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 10:51 AM Marci Jenkins <
Marci.Jenkins at mcminnvilleoregon.gov> wrote:

> Mr. Greiner
>
>
>
> This was not a matter of censorship, nobody was trying to silence the
> author. This is a matter of lack of equal opportunities in the publishing
> industry and Latinx representation. Minimizing this context to censorship
> and nothing but speculation.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Marci Ramiro-Jenkins*
>
> Reference Librarian/Latinx Outreach Coordinator
>
> McMinnville Public Library
>
> 503-435-5568
>
> [image: librarybanner]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Libs-Or [mailto:libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] *On
> Behalf Of *Tony Greiner
> *Sent:* Monday, February 3, 2020 10:40 PM
> *To:* libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
> *Subject:* [Libs-Or] "American Dirt" and the Social Justice Warriors
>
>
>
> *This message originated outside of the City of McMinnville.*
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Librarianship is in danger of losing one of its foundations- that no one
> can tell you what you can read, or what you can write.  Let's not let that
> slip away.  As I hope you know, Jeanine Cummins' new novel *American
> Dirt, *which tells the story of a middle-class Mexican woman suddenly
> reduced to refugee status, has been the subject of attacks from those who
> want to silence any voice or story they do not approve of. These attacks
> are not primarily on the quality of the book, but on the idea that a white
> American woman dare write a fictional story about Mexicans. The censors,
> and the threats of violence from their supporters have led to the
> cancellation of Cummin's book tour, including an appearance at Powells.
>
>
>
> Paired with that bigotry, the idea that a writer should be silenced if her
> characters don't match her skin color has been given serious hearings in
> the media. To my knowledge, only the wise and big-hearted Oprah WInfrey has
> taken the position that the book should be viewed on its merits, and last I
> heard, she was still planning on featuring the book on one of her programs.
>
>
>
> That said, the advocates of silencing others have tasted victory in
> cancelling the book tour. They may choose to continue their campaign of
> censorship by calling for removal of the book from library shelves. With
> that real possibility in mind (and given the silence from the American
> Library Association, which has chosen to look the other way,) I offer this
> defense that librarians may choose to take against the censors.  It is a
> list of books with white protagonists written by famous people of color.
>  (Some of the titles on this list were found in the research of Robert
> Fikes, a librarian at San Diego State University, and Martin Japtok of
> Palomar College.) If the censors assert that a white woman should not write
> fiction about a Mexican woman, then ask them if they wish to censor these
> authors as well.  Included is a thought from a better writer and thinker
> than I can ever hope to be.
>
>
>
>
>
> Tony Greiner
>
>
>
> “No human culture is inaccessible to someone who makes the effort to
> understand, to learn, to inhabit another world”- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
>
>
>
> Novels with a protagonist of one race or culture written by an author of
> another race or culture:
>
>
>
> Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck:  *Tortilla Flat*; *The Pearl.*
>
>
>
> Nobel Laureate Pearl Buck:  *Good Earth, and *others. Buck has also been
> a target of race-based criticism, but she spoke Cantonese, and her work has
> been praised by Anchee Min. There is a statue of her in Nanjing, China.
>
>
>
> Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro.  *Remains of the Day. *
>
>
>
> David Guterson. *Snow Falling on Cedars*. Winner of the Pen/Faulkner
> award for Fiction, 1995.
>
>
>
> Dubose Heyward. *Porgy. *Praised by Langston Hughes, who said that
>  Heyward's  brings "with his white eyes, wonderful, poetic qualities in the
> inhabitants of Catfish Row that makes them come alive." This book is the
> basis for George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess.”  "Porgy and Bess" has
> had some criticism, but was also praised by Duke Ellington and recorded by
> many black jazz musicians. Gershwin’s will stipulates that the opera may
> only be produced with a black cast.
>
>
>
> James Patterson.  A series of detective novels featuring Alex Cross.
>
>
>
> James Baldwin.  Short Story: “The Man Child.”
>
>
>
> Ann Petry.  *Country Place*. Petry isn’t well known now, but her first
> novel, *The Street,* (set in Harlem) was the first novel by an
> African-American woman to sell 1,000,000 copies.
>
>
>
> Richard Wright. *Savage Holiday*. Wright’s novel about an insurance
> executive has no black characters.
>
>
>
> Zora Neale Hurston. *Seraph on the Suwanee*. This novel looks at the life
> of poor white ‘crackers’ in Florida.
>
>
>
> Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  Dunbar, better known as a poet, had two novels with
> only white characters, *The Uncalled *(1898) and *The Love of Landry *(1900)
> a western.
>
>
>
>
>
> **tony_greiner at hotmail.com**
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20200204/e9b231c9/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 5462 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20200204/e9b231c9/attachment.jpg>