I normally use this space to tout the things I love about writing, romance and
the world. But today I’m going to discuss something that I hate. I know, hate is
for Hitler, but this subject has been rolling around in my head for weeks and
today I realize that I truly do hate it. Full disclosure, I don’t know the whole
story. I’ve read literally two articles about it and am very likely making some
assumptions, but such is life. The writing life. Karen Witemeyer won the Vivian
Award for best romance book "with religious or spiritual elements” for At Love's
Command. But RWA took it back because some people found it offensive due to how
the subject matter was handled in the book. For those that don’t know, the
Vivian is the top award in the romance writing world. The book centered on a
hero who was involved in the massacring of Native Americans and finds redemption
through God. Sounds like a pretty basic plot for Christian romance but it upset
some folks. For years marginalized people have been made to be plot devices and
their stories have been used for the white Christian gaze. Quite frankly, they
are sick of it. I get it. I don’t read books about slave owners/former slave
owners. And I might be offended if one won the biggest award in the romance
world. But the writer in me cringes at the idea that a book that has been
identified as excellent, would lose out on an award simply because it offended
people or because it was from the (possibly narrow) viewpoint of a certain group
of folks. That feels wrong to me and like something that could lead to
censorship, if not by the industry then certainly the author. Realistically, we
don’t all have the same perspective on our country’s history. Realistically, the
“winners” have been able to shape the narrative. Realistically, this has angered
minority groups who finally have the power to push back. And certainly I don’t
blame them. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t set right in my spirit to go
down a slippery slope of determining whose story gets told and whose doesn’t
simply because it could offend someone. Instead, I want the stories written by
people of color to be read and feted alongside those written by white folks so
that people can see our worlds from our point of views and acknowledge our
greatness.
