The first reviewers post for today comes from Kimberley 🙂

I’m Kimberley and I’ve been reviewing with LoveBytes since 2014. I can’t believe it’s been four years! I absolutely adore to read; I always have. It’s a way for me to relax and unwind, escape the dark cloud of reality even if it’s just temporarily. It’s the only thing outside of family that made me happy. But the dark cloud of reality has darkened my favorite pass time to the point where I was debating on even continuing on with the M/M romance genre.

I’ve decided to lend my voice to the issue of anti-blackness in the romance genre in general, the M/M romance genre specifically. Now that the veil has been pulled back and the tea spilled in regards to Riptide, the same people who co-signed on, participated in, defended and aligned themselves with those who participated in and perpetuated the mess are all ‘shocked’ and ‘appalled’ when it’s revealed. It’s this faux outrage that irritates my soul.

Just so everyone is clear about what it all boils down to: this is about the overall toxic atmosphere of that firm, their lack of respect for their readers and authors of color and the inappropriate behaviors of their staff. This is about CoC/PoC being erased and those CoC that were written were done so using racist, derogatory language, slurs and stereotypes and the publishing firm condoning and even defending it. But to be fair, this is a problem has plagued this entire genre and PoC have been pointing it out for quite some time.

I’ve read many wonderful books from some really great authors in this genre. But the dark cloud or racism has found its way into the fictions that I’ve always enjoyed. Racism affects every aspect of the lives of PoC so we come to something to escape that reality. So imagine our disgust when we open a book to see it filled with ridiculous stereotypes and some case racial slurs.  I can tell you how disheartening and infuriating it is as a black reader to open up a book and seeing a racial slur in it. If it was an essential part of the character or storyline, then I would look at the context in which it was written. But 99.9% of the time, the context IS NOT THERE. It’s just something the author threw in; the casual racism obvious.

Recently, a Twitter user asked a black author if “black people read or write romance books.”  It would be an understatement to say that was one of the dumbest questions asked on social media I’ve seen that week. And that’s saying a lot in this land and in this time where ignorance and racism has been normalized. Meanwhile, I’m off to the side thinking that what she really wanted to ask was if black people were humans. It was asked in the same tone.

Yes, black people, just like everyone else, read. Yes! Black and brown people can read! And many of us LIKE it, too. Huh, imagine that.

Look, I don’t care what color the character is; if your art is good, then I’m going dig it regardless of their color or ethnicity. Riptide has said that “books with PoC on the cover won’t sell.”  That’s similar to what white studio execs said about Black Panther. Those pretentious morons have been feasting on crows since that movie released.

Another thing I’ve seen that irritates my soul is white authors use the excuse of being ‘afraid to offend’ or ‘afraid of getting it wrong’ so ‘they write what they know’ for not injecting diversity into their books.  I’m off to the side, yet again wondering what it is about my blackness that’s so alien that they can’t even write us as regular human beings? Other than skin tone, we’re no different. We live, laugh, love, experience heartache, pain, trials and tribulations, have hopes, dreams and aspirations the same as any other human being would.

If you don’t want to include CoC in your books, that’s okay. Just STOP using the cop out of being “afraid of getting it wrong.” The excuse is old, tired and insults the intelligence of PoC.

There are more than white cis males that make up the LGBT community and those people bring their own voices and culture into the community to make it richer. This same demographic also purchase books. This situation has gotten to the point where many readers of color will steer clear of white authors who have CoC in their books because we’re fed up with the slick and casual racism contained within them. It’s like we read to escape the racism, judgment and the stereotypes we face in reality, only to be blindsided by it when we open up a book.

This genre is rife with racism, misandry, and erasure all from people waiving rainbow flags and claiming to be allies

to the LGBTQ community. It’s time for us to spill the true tea. And the true tea is that the authors are themselves racist and will often times inject that into their stories. It’s subtle and they don’t think we’re intelligent enough to pick up on it. It’s microagressive not to mention cowardly in nature. I’d rather deal with an overt than a covert racist you always know where you stand with them. What I can not stand is the hand holding, rainbow flag waiving, person claiming to be an ally.

These problems should be addressed and steps taken to fix it. If no one is willing to do that then we should just throw the whole genre away.

Have a chance to win a $10 store credit for Ninestar Press
a Rafflecopter giveaway