I want to dig deeper into this thing where white folks in SFF get let off the hook for stuff while BIPOC suffer greater consequences, and I'm gonna use the example of Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch to do so. https://twitter.com/tinytempest/status/1278137546665426949

To start, whatever faults Alexandra Rowland has and whatever messiness they may or may not be involved in (I don't know them so I cannot speak to that), the reason I piped up at the start and said "I believe you" about what they said about EBear's words/actions is:

They match what I know of how EBear operates.

I met her through a writing community before she was published. I didn't like how she treated people and how she manipulated folks back then. I ended my friendship with her over this. I'm sure she has her own version of this story.

In her version I'm sure *I* am the evil villain. cool cool whatever. But in the almost 20 years since then I have spoken (usually to individuals one-on-one) about the things she did that I thought were Not Okay. (This feeling of mine isn't sudden.) Then came RaceFail.

Dropping this thread here because it gives a good overview of the main problems with how Bear comported herself during RaceFail and add this: The ceasefire post mentioned? After it went up I had so many people say to me: OH GOD HOW COULD SHE I DIDN'T KNOW https://twitter.com/sf_boswell/status/1276397010313248769

I tried not to say "I did warn you..." too much. Even by then I was tired of telling people why I didn't think Bear was all that great and being dismissed because I was "angry" and "hated everyone" (Not a coincidence: that was around the time I started calling out racism in SFF.)

Anywho, Bear ended up skating away from RaceFail without too much damage due to her friends with power in publishing *and the community*. Very frankly, she also skated because the Nice White People and particularly the Nice White Ladies of SFF lit were uncomfortable.

Not with Bear, but with how the scary brown horde had treated her. On the outside the NWL were like:

"Oh yes yes we must do something about representation in the field!"

But were also like: "Bear is doing so many nice things & look! She has brown friends. No need to keep on."

On the inside the NWL were like: "They could come for us! We must say the right things in public!" while in private they said something very, very different. Because if there's anything the Nice White Folk of SFF know how to do is to say the right things in public.

Well.... most of the time. When the mask slips some of us are horrified because we're used to thinking that what the NWL say in public matches what they feel in their hearts. Sadly, no. Still, they rarely suffer long-lasting consequences for it. Even after RaceFail.

White folks, usually men, can say whatever (including POC in an SF anthology is like putting lettuce inside reams of paper!*), do whatever (I'm gonna call the cops on David Gerrold for being mean to me!**), and skate free.

* http://theangryblackwoman.com/2009/08/05/this-is-why-science-fiction-cant-have-nice-things/

** https://www.facebook.com/ktempestbradford/posts/10207692737295651

In the Gerrold/Antonelli affair I took folks to task at the time for accepting Lou's "apology" and saying we could move on. Meanwhile that wasn't even the first thing Lou had done that was disgusting and egregious. But we were supposed to accept his apology like it's all good?

To my knowledge, Paul Di Filippo has *never* apologized for his racist tirade in the SFSignal comments section.

(Before you ask, everything in that post is a *direct quote* from Paul unless I say "paraphrased". No really.)

Those are two examples. There are others. Detailing every single one of them isn't the point. The point is that we let white folks off every hook even if they only make a vague motion at maybe apologizing. However, when it comes to BIPOC doing egregious shit, we don't.

And as I said at the very beginning of all this, I (and most others) are *NOT* saying that we need to be less harsh with BIPOC who abuse or harass or are anti-Black or ableist or TERFy or whatever.

What we're saying is that the consequences should be equal.

We gotta stop letting the Nice White Folk of SFF let their friends off and go all Miss Crawford* on us.

"In some circles, we know, [they] would never be admitted. But with good dinners, and large parties, there will always be those who will be glad of [their] acquaintance."

* Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, the last conversation between Edmund and Miss Crawford, look it up.

However, as I said upthread, we need to bring down the same hellfire for the white women as white men. I've heard from several quarters that the discussion of Rowland's accusations have focused on Bear and I'll cop to being part of that. She wasn't the only one, though.

There's also this stuff with Scott Lynch. I'll start by linking to this thread by Seanan which makes excellent points: https://twitter.com/seananmcguire/status/1276598272719613952

Scott Lynch should have been more like that man Seanan talks about. Just because you can, and someone comes to you saying they want you to, doesn't mean you SHOULD because of your position of power in the community and/or relative to that person.

But it's unsurprising to me that in a situation where both a cis man and cis woman (apologies if those labels are incorrect, going off of what I understand) are named as being a problem, the majority of the focus is on the woman.

If you're (finally!!) prepared to say that EBear is a problem, you gotta say Scott is a same amount of problem. And if you're unwilling to do that, you can't let EBear off the hook just cuz you don't wanna be so harsh on Scott. That's bull.

Both of them deserve to be yeeted off into a time out that lasts just as long as any BIPOC who is also having a *highly deserved* time out. And this time don't let the Nice White Folk of SFF protect them, and keep giving them opportunities to teach, to run cons, to mentor people.

Don't let them off the hook by saying:

"But they've done so many good things for the community!"

or

"They helped these brown people, so therefore they cannot be racist."

I'll remind you that manipulative abusers are skillful at doing things that look good on the surface.

I have had other BIPOC say to me: "But EBear was nice to me / mentored me / listened to me when other people wouldn't!" I'm sure that's true. And I throw no shade about it because why wouldn't you trust a person who acts in this manner? Over the years I've wondered if this >

< behavior was just a shield or coming from a place of wanting to help and also wondered if the difference was only a philosophical one. If Bear was only doing these things to look good but there was real benefit to marginalized folks, did it matter if it was an act?

But reading accounts of Bear's behavior that came out since Rowland's post, and noting that many (if not all) of the BIPOC who defend her weren't involved in RaceFail as it happened or came into this community *afterwards*, I cannot help but fall on the side of pessimism. PLUS

There's that whole thing I keep hearing about how Scott Lynch on multiple occasions has become inappropriately involved with writers who are newer to the community or publishing. I see a pattern emerging.

I also think about how EBear never walked back what she said in that RaceFail Cease Fire post (perhaps she has *this week*). Never apologized. Never owned that saying "POC have privilege because they can yell RACISM and everyone hops to!" was complete racist nonsense.

Apologies aren't everything. Changing behavior counts for more, most of the time. But has Scott Lynch changed his behavior? Or is he still out here having inappropriate relationships with writers (and other redheads...) who don't have as much social capital or power as him?

Has EBear really changed her behavior? Cuz reading the stories coming out of things that have happened *since racefail* it doesn't seem she has, she just got better at hiding. And her friends helped her do it. And the community let it happen.

And this is not even some uncommon story limited to her OR Scott.

So... when are we gonna change that, SFF fam? When are we gonna hold EVERYONE as accountable for equal infractions of community trust?

I'll wait.

PS - do *not* attempt to use this post to say that I'm siding with any individual, even a BIPOC, who has been called out by the community or that I'm secretly in league with someone. I have never been secret about who I'm in a league with and I try to be candid about my opinions.