Imagine that, in Black History Month, a white author was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize, or that in LGB History Month, a straight author was longlisted for the Polari Prize.

Imagine that, when a grassroots group of black people—or lesbian & gay people—wrote a civil letter of

complaint to the prize, the reaction was thus:

—calling the signatories malicious bullies;

—publishing a rash of articles criticising them for “attacking” the white/straight author;

—hundreds of messages describing the signatories as “disgusting”, & using a slur associated

with threats of violence;

—claiming the black/lesbian & gay authors are motivated by jealousy of the white/straight author’s talent;

—chastising the signatories for daring to raise a reasonable objection...

Can you see it now, the dynamic? The abuse of power? The power play?

Now, on top of that, imagine that the white/straight author’s longlisted book was saturated with profoundly racist/homophobic tropes, which dehumanise black/homosexual people. Imagine that the plot centred a white/straight person manipulating, exploiting & objectifying a member

of the group of people who the Jhalak/Polari prize was established to elevate—to give that group a louder & more complex voice within mainstream culture. To humanise a group historically subject to deep prejudice & systemic forms of abuse.

Imagine if that happened? How would you

expect the establishment & the press to react? By libelling the letter signatories & crowing about the victory of the white/straight person over the black/homosexual people?

Or in some other way, perhaps, which signalled societal progress in attitudes towards the out group?