“Anonymous” Identified

Many of you are familiar with the conflict that has arisen in recent weeks between Seal Press and women of color bloggers, Black Amazon in particular, after she wrote “Fuck Seal Press” in one of her posts. Given that this has been completely misconstrued, and Black Amazon has (honorably) refused to reveal the story that was the catalyst for her comment, it is important for me to come out as the friend Black Amazon was ultimately speaking to on that blog.

 

An informal meeting with an editor from Seal Press at the WAM conference regarding the proposal for my anthology left me feeling frustrated and deflated. I was not seeking or particularly interested in having them publish the anthology, but merely hoping for advice on my book proposal. The editor, while impressed with the format of the proposal, advised me that anthologies don’t sell, and I should get someone like Gloria Steinem or Katha Pollitt to contribute, even though, as she said, I wouldn’t be able to get access to them. I was struck by the fact that she did not suggest I contact Daisy Hernandez, bell hooks, Andrea Smith, or Alice Walker. I might not have access to them either, of course, but given the intent of the anthology is to highlight the voices of people of diverse backgrounds, especially those we’ve not heard from in other works, I found her comments discouraging.

 

Afterwards, I had a private conversation about the meeting with a small group of friends, including Black Amazon, in hopes they could help me work through this. They did.

 

After the conference, Black Amazon posted a blog, toward the end of which she wrote “Fuck Seal Press” as a message to me, as a show of friendship and support. It was not a call for attention, or as bait for Seal Press. In response, I posted the following: “Seal Press has NOTHING on women of color.” This comment was in response to BA’s message of support, and not – as many mistakenly assumed – that Seal Press does not publish women of color. Still, as the comment thread on the post shows, this is the direction the conflict took, and not without justification.

 

No one (especially Black Amazon) could have expected the backlash that came from this, or that Seal Press would ever find their way over to her blog, let alone respond.

 

Since then, many people have been hurt by this, especially Black Amazon. For that, and to her, I apologize. She is someone who truly understands sisterhood, and the invectives hurled at her are unfounded and unfair.

 

It is important to point out the reason I have largely kept silent about this. I felt a responsibility to the 50-plus contributors to my project; they do not deserve to be dragged into something they had no part in or any control over. I refrained from entering the debate for their sake.

 

My initial reaction was to make a call to Seal Press. Black Amazon advised against it, as she did not want me to risk the project. That is not the reaction of an “angry, snarky, WOC,” as she has been called, but of a friend and a sister. Besides, by that time the debate had evolved into the question of women of color, respect (or the lack thereof) for their work, and the general inability/fear of many white feminists to engage women of color.

 

To be clear, I am under no illusion that Seal Press has any responsibility to me, or to any woman of color. They can publish what they want, and ultimately will publish what they think will sell. If women of color are not part of that equation, or can be only under certain conditions, that is completely up to them.

 

Despite the risk to those associated with the anthology, it is more important to me that I set the record straight and assume responsibility for a conversation that started with me, and, I can only hope, will end here with me.

 

This is not Black Amazon’s burden to shoulder, and it is not fair that I remain anonymous while she takes the heat. Black Amazon acted out of friendship and sisterhood. In the end, that’s what all of us want. In a life without books, press, or fame – which is life most of the time – it’s our friends that hold us up. That’s what she did for me, and I’m eternally thankful for it.

 

 

Adele

  

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