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It's 2020. #BlackLivesMatter 
. And out of 7 award places, 6 of them went to white men. All 7 winning faces are white. They are indeed good writers: that's not the point. It's the starkness of choosing SIX WHITE MEN. Now. 1/ https://twitter.com/JoburgReview/status/1274063600118910977
. And out of 7 award places, 6 of them went to white men. All 7 winning faces are white. They are indeed good writers: that's not the point. It's the starkness of choosing SIX WHITE MEN. Now. 1/ https://twitter.com/JoburgReview/status/1274063600118910977
This came along with UK comic/novel writer Warren Ellis's disingenuous response to women in his industry he'd exploited: "I have never considered myself famous or powerful. It never occurred to me ... that I was not engaging as an equal." 2/
This in a week where a friend and I mulled over the fact that white male creatives/writers are forgiven professional (and other) sins that would be career-ending for women. Black women especially. 3/
Privilege is absolutely real. Goddess knows I benefit from it every day. But I am done with institutions/individuals claiming they don't know they're privileged, that they're standing on a level playing field. 4/
It's the wide-eyed innocence, the well-meaning gestures, worse, playing victim, that lead to this kind of display of tone-deafness? arrogance? Not just Media24 - I've seen it all week, all by white male writers. (yes, "some of my best friends are white male writers" etc.) 5/
How can you still pretend NOT to know that privilege gives you a pass to the head of the line over and over? What are you going to do about it? In this case, white men were "passive" winners (the problems lie in the structure of Naspers, the judging panels). 6/
But that's the problem: "passive winners" is a very good way of describing privilege. And it leads, in June 2020, with the world burning in protests against racism, to SIX WHITE MEN showing up as winners for seven awards. And no alarm bells going off. 7/
And don't even start me on gender. Everyone is (rightly) gobsmacked at the racial profile here. But: ONE WOMAN? In an industry in which women write majority of books, buy majority of books, staff most publishing depts? 8/
I can't even take my usual pleasure in congratulating the winners (some of whom I know). Oh, and don't bother to @ me with notallmen or alllivesmatter. I might do something to a little doll that will tie your guts in knots for three days.
