Black Lives Matter

There is no doubt that our world is changing due to the latest movement caused by the death of George Floyd and many others, and it is well overdue. However, any company that tries to take advantage of the movement by all of suddenly saying they support the movement and will do things to improve their racial diversity should be shamed for not doing it sooner.

In addition, any bookstore, publishing house, or writers organization that all of sudden has a curated list of black authors to promote for book sales should also be ashamed.

LGBTQ community with its recent win in the Supreme Court will also see this happen in the month of June as they celebrate their growth and pride. 

How dare any company suddenly come out and say they are in support of either group and commit to doing more. 

Where the F were, they before this? I have worked hard for the past 10 years to make sure that we include as many people from different faiths, sexuality, and race as we can. I know I can continue to do better, we all can. So don’t give me that BS that a company ‘will do better’ and move to improve with comments that are too late such as “commits to increasing the number of Black writers and industry experts we pay to teach and present, as well as the number of Black writers we invite to join panel discussions, readings, and other WLT events, by no less than 50% in the next year.”

Everyone in the publishing industry should have already been working to make sure everyone is included and everyone is treated fairly. I’m a white male and this pisses me off. I hope it does you too and you let these companies and organizations know about this as well! 

Boycott those companies and organizations that all of a sudden ‘wake up’. Yes, it’s great they finally did, but they shouldn’t be earning your hard dollar for being late to the party!