This is only half true, at best. In Tolkien’s Middle earth, biological race is real. It is structured into the cosmology. Tolkien was anti-Nazi but that is NOT the same as anti-racist. 1/ https://twitter.com/sketchesbyboze/status/1274710088092188676

The most famous ‘anti-racist’ quote from Tolkien actually proves that he absolutely believed in race. He wrote in a 1941 letter to his son Michael that he had a “private grudge” against Hitler for “ruining, perverting, misapplying and making forever accursed, that...2/

“noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved.” In the same letter he wrote that “there is a great deal more force (and truth) than ignorant people imagine in the ‘Germanic’ ideal.” 3/

So, Tolkien believed in what Hitler believed in: that so-called Germanic people were inherently different to other people (including other Europeans) AND that they had done better things - made “a supreme contribution.” This is a literal definition of racism. 4/

Also worth pointing out that in many ways it doesn’t matter what Tolkien consciously thought when race and racism are built into the fantasy world he created. They are literally racist fantasies and have been used by white supremacists to actively recruit since the 90s 5/

Tolkien’s ideas about race were influenced by his academic studies - he didn’t get them from nowhere 5/ https://psmag.com/.amp/education/untangling-white-supremacy-from-medieval-studies

We can’t say Tolkien was anti-racist just because we want him to have been. It’s damaging because it erases reality, and sets the bar for anti-racism so low it’s basically underground. 8/

That doesn’t mean white supremacist get to own or claim #Tolkien however. It is clear that he would have hated neo-Nazis and their ilk as much as he hated Hitler. But anti-extremism isn’t the same as anti-racism

Pretending Tolkien was anti-racist enables non-extremist white fandom to pretend it is not racist (spoiler, it is). You can love Tolkien and his Middle earth and be anti-racist, but it takes conscious effort, and acknowledging both are racist is just a start 9/

Claiming Tolkien was anti-racist also contributes to erasing and ignoring the lived experiences of fans of colour. It makes fandom less welcoming to POC. Don’t do it 10/

The racism written into Middle earth got written into fantasy conventions too. Again, it can be resisted but that takes acknowledgment and conscious work. And yes I have published a book about this https://books.google.com/books/about/Race_and_Popular_Fantasy_Literature.html?id=FvlWCgAAQBAJ

There is a *lot* of investment from white mainstream media, fandom, scholars and other fantasy folk in arguing that Tolkien and Middle earth aren’t racist. Google Tolkien and racism and you’ll find plenty. There is white privilege and white fragility in this 11/

Privilege because white folks are used to not having to ‘see’ race and racializatiom to cope or survive in our racist societies. So for white folks it’s also not necessary in that sense to see how popular culture reinforces racism 12/

White fragility because often that defensiveness is in response to there merest hint of critique. White folks take it personally when their fave is criticised. They can’t cope with the idea of liking something racist. 13/

It’s like “if I like something racist, then maybe I’m racist. And I’m not racist so the thing I like can’t be either.” It’s an extension of how so many white folk think being called racist is worse than actually being racist 14/

And yes, I know this because I have thought/felt that way. I love The Lord if the Rings, read it every year. DID NIT WANT it to be racist. But then I learned about racism, read LOTR again, and now could never unsee it. I can still love it but I also know what it is: RACIST

Popular culture, not just Tolkien but DEFINITELY including him, is used as a vehicle for getting extremist ideas into the mainstream and for getting sympathy for and agreement with those ideas. 17?/

Extremists start with things like “we love Tolkien”, which makes non-extremists who also like Tolkien feel affinity. Then extremist interpretations can be out forward (this is easy with Tolkien because of the previosuly mentioned racism built into LOTR) 18/

So with Tolkien it might be around how LOTR says Gondorians were “diminished” by intermarrying with “lesser” races of “men.” Sounds a lot like some racist theory of miscegenation to me! 19/

Some folk will recognise and resist this sort of reading, but others don’t. It’s a way of putting out extremist ideas in places where folks a relatively likely to be receptive because ‘we like the same things’. 20/

Racist pop culture supports racists. It lets extremists get ‘in’. We can kick them out again but it takes work and knowledge and recognition and first and foremost LISTENING TO POC ESPECIALLY POC WHO ARE EXPERTS IN ANTI-RACISM WORK 21/

I’m in the colony known as Australia, so here’s a starting list of anti-racist books for here. Get your local library to order them if you can’t afford to buy. Then borrow and read. https://www.readings.com.au/collection/books-to-help-you-understand-and-fight-white-supremacy