Racism in Publishing

I've allowed a week to pass so that I could digest a particularly negative -- and wholly unexpected -- experience I had at a recent writer's conference. I wanted to make sure that I felt the same way as before, and I wanted to run the issue by a few people first to make sure my comments would be fair. This nasty experience has led me to understand why nine times out of 10, African-American writers bypass the traditional publishing system altogether and publish their work themselves.

The basic set-up of the conference is to write a pitch and have it critiqued by a team leader and fellow writers who likely are writing in the same genre. That part of the process works relatively well because there are multiple ears who listen to the pitch and multiple voices to debate its merits and shortcomings.

The first pitch with a bona-fide editor is something of a practice pitch. It's generally not expected that anyone's pitch will result in a manuscript request, though we did have one writer we dubbed "Rock Star" who made it through the gauntlet. As an aside, however, this particular person had written screenplays and presumably knew how to work the pitch from experience in Hollywood.

The second pitch of my thriller, The Nubian Codex, was from a woman whose unpleasant attitude and demeanor reminded me of Mrs. DeVie, my first grade teacher. Mrs. DeVie, who probably was in her 50s or 60s at the time, looked, dressed and carried herself a bit like Mrs. Drysdale from "The Beverly Hillbillies." But in spite of her urbane look, she was a definite product of her time. She placed me in special education classes even though I could read, write and speak two languages at about a fourth-grade level. In addition, I knew how to do third-grade math. But this woman also made it clear that she did not approve of my parents' mixed-race marriage.

The editor, in spite of her New York area address, had none of Mrs. DeVie's style. While the other editors met us halfway at the door to shake our hands, lending a feeling of partnership, this woman sat behind a table waiting on us to come to her. She exuded a bitterness that became even more apparent as she practically interrupted my pitch to tell me she didn't believe the premise. She also told me that I had no business basing a thriller on racial themes.

For the uninitiated, The Nubian Codex is about a woman who searches for her brother who has disappeared after finding a Nubian tomb in the Honduran rainforest. I've had my best friend read it because she loves thrillers, and she has been my editor, so she would tell me if there were problems; I've had several others read it, and they keep calling me for more; and I had the first half professionally edited by a person I definitely would have expected to tell me if my premise seemed shaky.

This editor, however, doesn't know me and clearly had no desire to get to know me. She had made up her mind before I finished the pitch that she wanted no part of it. She was the one who went into The DaVinci Code comparison to say that clearly there was an enemy of the grail issue but that I had no discernible enemy. I guess the white supremacists I'd mentioned in my pitch aren't formidable foes to white people, but as far as I know, they scare the dickens out of Black people. She went on to say that if someone -- I think she meant herself -- didn't want to believe the premise, they just wouldn't believe it. Since she brought up The DaVinci Code, I pointed out that the same could be said for it. I know many people who refused to read the book because they did not accept the scholarly premise that perhaps Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus. And as I recall, those people didn't hurt the sales of the book. I also should note that this particular editor asked for no one's manuscript and was inappropriate for our group because she represents cozies, not thrillers.

I guess I was rather surprised that this woman actually could utter that race was not a reason to kill. As a former police reporter, I can tell you that anything can be a reason to kill. Sure, the most common motives are sex, drugs and money. But I've actually seen reports of people killing others over chocolate chip cookies on Christmas. That may not sound like the motive for a thriller, but the cover up for that murder could be.

As for the issue of race, what planet is this woman from? It wasn't that long ago that a man in Texas was dragged behind another person's car for being Black. And why are there hate crimes laws and state task forces on hate crimes? I remember when I first started writing about being biracial 20 years ago, people came up to me and told me how brave I was. That came as a surprise to me because I never felt endangered. But obviously, many people are aware of the pitfalls surrounding the discussion of race.

And who is this woman to decide whether race is an appropriate subject for a thriller? I think anything is up for grabs by any writer as long as he or she can pull it off. This woman had no idea whether I actually managed to do this effectively because she chose not to see the manuscript. She reminds me of all the other people who have told me what I would not be able to do, and I've proven every one of them wrong.

A few years ago, I took a class on public relations campaigns. We had to dissect the campaign and write a paper on it. I remember reading our textbook in which it erroneously stated that the first campaign involved a railroad incident in the 1800s. I disagreed. There have been persistent campaigns of persuasion since the beginning of communication. So I decided to write a paper on how the Counter Reformation was a public relations campaign. The teacher was doubtful about my ability to pull it off, but he was intrigued. In the end, my grade was an A+, and he said I should use it to write my master's thesis.

People like this editor are precisely why I chose the thriller as my vehicle. It is one that people are willing to read, and it allowed me to present important information in a format they could digest. I think all editors should heed the general advice to readers: "Don't judge a book by its cover" -- or its jacket copy.