Just thought I should point out that Victoria Foyt is a member of AW and has advertised her book here (1, 2, etc.).
Victoria Foyt is the (white) author of a new young adult book series called Save the Pearls. The book chronicles the adventures of Eden Newman, a white woman, or a “Pearl,” whose entire race has been enslaved by the dominant race of “Coals” — or dark-skinned people. Hoping to capitalize off of the popularity of dystopian young adult novels like The Hunger Games, Foyt constructed a narrative in which, she explains, “Solar radiation has wiped out most of the white race whose lack of melanin causes them to succumb to the Heat. The survivors, called Pearls, suffer from oppression under the new majority of dark-skinned Coals.” In the new world, Eden must rely on Bramford, a Coal. As Foyt describes it, Pearls is “a Beauty and the Beast story in which both parties must find self-acceptance before they can discover true love.”
Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70709064.html#ixzz21ydJX3Vj
If such a category still exists? What, like AA's have stopped reading fiction? Um, WHAT??Conceivably, if the book had not reached the African-American community of readers, if such a category still exists, perhaps there might be some backlash.
I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. Dammit. Why did you have to post those links? I need a new mantra.Just thought I should point out that Victoria Foyt is a member of AW and has advertised her book here (1, 2, etc.).
The target is white racists who fear "extinction" of the white race through interracial marriage. I know~ It's all so scary... people from other races are marrying each other. *heavy sarcasm* ('cause if I didn't use sarcasm I would be ranting nonstop...)
Oh and I think it's kinda brilliant that she thinks that Latinos and Asians made it in society somehow as a model race because they get gemstone names. (Gag me) And of course Coal. What? the internet was broken that day that you couldn't look up "Black gemstones"? and then you said Oh well, let's choose something else black--hmmm... my non-white housekeeper can help me write this book.... let me ask her. Wait, the door is (F*ing) jammed I got this black soot on my hands. I'll have to use words with my house keeper. Wait... soot, dust... but I need a solid object... COAL! Yes. Wasn't that a slur...? No matter. Short, coal it is. My Housekeeper will have my back later. I can use her as an excuse to use this, because she's a person of color--wait I don't see color except Barrack Obama.
*Arrggghhh*
Yes, I found this in Korea, Japan and China too. Makes me sad...
So, for example, in Korea, if you know English, you are more likely to get a job. Went to a White US college? (Which is how Koreans viewed America before Barrack Obama... I've been tracking it...) You are more likely to get a job. Freckles are considered ugly. Nose jobs are done to make people look more white. Eye surgery for the double eye lid (Korea, Japan and China). Lighter skin is treasured more in all three mentioned countries. If you speak English they want to hire you. English shows play at least some part of the day all day around. (Hong Kong, Japan, Korea--parts of China, though this is from reports more I've gotten.)
In fact, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan do a lot more cultural exchange than Canada and the US does... there are TV shows that are imported wholesale between the countries and subbed freely. One of the biggest hits in Japan was a Korean TV show, Winter Sonata. Korea, in turn, imported a bunch of Japanese TV shows which also were popular.
Apartheid anyone?
US? No. Could they import, say Mexican shows on TV. Sure. They could also import French Canadian. Run subtitles on Japanese anime late in the night. Run subtitles on something *not* in English. But you get the point. White is often considered default in other countries and they are aware of the pervasiveness of English and see it as a "White" language.
***
There is this thing among white extremists where they are afraid their race will go "extinct". (Which gives me a whole other type of headache several parts cultural anthropology...). This book seems to be an embodiment of that thinking.
From her article... (Which is not a good read--it gives me a massive headache):
I don't even... what... where... *shakes head* I'm crying out how could someone even go here? AND then make it worse by blackface? Can I say it? WTF is wrong with her?
I'm glad it's getting slammed on amazon and goodreads. I wonder if the 30-something odd good reviews are her friends who are also racist, but I'll try to be mature and not go there. Though her article on Huffington post also makes her seem like she's against QUILTBAG too. (And no, I didn't miss the bit where she's all blacks are only good for changing oil.)
Did she even research? I feel like I need bleach for my brain, a strong sledge hammer, a lobotomy, and a good fetal position to get this trash out of my head. I can't think of a time that I didn't know better.
And I hope that someone would have the sense to outright call me racist if I ever pulled any kind of S*t like this. Seriously. Please.
The website for Sand Dollar Press says they have a background in independent filmmaking which gives them "a fresh outlook on marketing ... video book trailers and viral campaigns, coupled with expertise in marketing, public relations, and social media strategy, that results in the unrivalled execution of book launches."
I think that there's a possibility that her book is also good (as in entertaining and thought provoking). Many dystopian books are inherently racist, political, and emphasize the dangers of censorship and communism. It's part of the genre to offend people.
Also for your enjoyment, the author's essay on "Interracial Relationships Through Eyes of Young Adults"
Well...I just...well. Wow. Are we in 1955 or 2012?
Otherwise, I'm happily surprised to say there has been not a blip of protest.
Note how the actresses beauty, as Eden, is taken as a given; it IS so. Just the Coals' perception of her beauty is false! So, white beauty is the real beauty.The actress, Claire Pfister, a real find with the right amount of edge and appeal, is the perfect Eden Newman. Stunningly beautiful as she is, in the post-apocalyptic world of the book, she'd be considered ugly and oppressed.
I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. I will take the mature path. Dammit. Why did you have to post those links? I need a new mantra.
Otherwise, I'm happily surprised to say there has been not a blip of protest.
I think few Americans would tolerate a mainstream television show NOT in English and its not because of racism. Its also the same reason we are practically the only country that doesn't use the metric system. Also not because of racism. We'd rather the rest of the world change than for us to change. Americans are proud to be "English" but this pride doesn't necessarily equal "white and English." So please don't lump everyone into that.
And I think the author isn't knowingly racist, but I think her remarks are incredibly racist. I think she's ignorant and short-sighted. She didn't do her research at all. She doesn't understand how sensitive people are on this issue. She has no comprehension as to how much "blackface" offended people when a child did it earlier in the year as a costume and that people will be way less tolerant of an adult doing the same thing.
I think that there's a possibility that her book is also good (as in entertaining and thought provoking). Many dystopian books are inherently racist, political, and emphasize the dangers of censorship and communism. It's part of the genre to offend people.
BUT, I think she's damaging the imaging of her book just as fast as Sarah Palin damaged John McCain's run for president. This is not going to end well for her.
She's getting slammed. But I fear for our lives, because she says this is a SERIES.In that article she says this:
Give it time, honey!
I'm glad to see the backlash is coming hard and thick now.
WTH *raisin-colored* skin. First, off, raisins come in many colors, secondly, you couldn't frggin' think of a better name than to name it after a fruit? You know.. a FOOD. There is Ebony... there is mahogany... there is obsidian... onyx... you know, those gemstones you couldn't bother to look up. Raisin? You had to go with something that's dried and wrinkled? Really? Raisin. Huh? Even past the racial slur implied, are you really going to imply skin is like a raisin? That's what happens when you get out of a bath. And that's Beautiful to you? Wrinkled. Really?Voluptuous, with raisin-colored skin, everything about Ashina screamed ruling class.
Grammar error, first real paragraph on page 9. Attribution error. If you need to understand why, watch Jon Stewart on Barrack Obama on That and those. Barrack Obama, the black man that you used to excuse yourself as not racist.Since their numbers hadn't been decimated in The Great Meltdown, as the other races' had, they now ruled the planet.
As for English, I would refer you to the whole debate about language being a tool for oppression. You can find such things on Ted talks, talks about the validity of Spanglish, and also refer you to the whole Hispanics must learn English. (Or as my ex-co-workers put it, white people calling them from the Mid US and telling them straight to their fluent speaking mouths/hearing ears, "Learn English. Go back to Mexico [racist slur]") Or how the Japanese tried to ban the use of Korean and Korean names in Korea during the Japanese occupation. Or as some people like to tell me (and you'll see this often with Asian racism) "This is America." and "You speak English good." (Dearie, it's "well") Like I wasn't speaking it for years. Language is a tool for expressing racism and superiority, or did you forget the whole BAE arguments of the late 1990's. (For the uneducated they termed it "Ebonics" in the news, but I'm more PC than that) I sure didn't.
So, no, even if you ignore the racism, does this chapter even close to stand up to something like a good writing standard. The whole climax of the chapter is her getting angry. Gandhi? Martin Luther King? Malcolm X after he returned? Any of those could have helped. What's scary about any prejudice is that you are so helpless in the face of it. You know it's ingrained into society and changing it is so hard. This first chapter fails that and makes some basic writing mistakes.
made me go to Amazon....and after scrolled through pages and pages of filibuster of the "editorial reviews" section, usually supplied by the "publisher" I came to the user reviews
and
Are you ladies and gentlemen absolutely sure this woman is trying to push a racist agenda down your throats?
Yes. She is tryig to appeal to readers who harbour similar fears. In no universe could she believe that this would go down well with black readers. And if she did believe that -- well, then she needs to learn a lot, because that would be just stupid.Is it possible that she is merely trying to appeal to the types of readers in her community that may not be able to empathize with minority views? She may be doing it incompetently (I have no idea), but the legitimate book reviews out there and the Eric Hoffer Award appear to--at least on the surface--say otherwise.
It's possible.The writing quality points raised in this thread aside, I'm not sure I'm seeing maliciousness here. I'd have to read the book to make any kind of judgement over the "pearl" versus "coal" thing. In a post-apocalyptic world, coal might be more valuable than a pearl could ever hope to be. Coal would offer fire and an energy source. A pearl might be nothing more than decoration in the author's fictional world. It would depend on how she used it, imo. It would seem highly odd for me, as a reader, to see an oppressed people being called "pearls" by a privileged class unless the oppressed were actually seen as pretty things used for decoration or status symbols.