by AEMP director Caleb Stewart Rossiter
Last week the wonderful publisher of three of my books
insisted in an email that I remove a reference in the final page proofs of my new
novel to an FBI agent’s lesbian romance. Why? Because “we actually have a
policy of not supporting gay and lesbian issues, as we find that antithetical
to nature.”
The
demand was followed shortly by this: “(Y)ou surely are familiar with recent research on IQ
distribution, etc. While we have all known some relatively high-performing
Blacks, your own experience surely shows that the general trend does not
suggest that one could reasonably expect a Black woman (or even a White woman)
to be a hotshot analyst…(W)hy on earth would a serious, educated White man
support the demise of the White man?”
Oh, and this was from a publisher whose masthead reads “For
a Kinder, Gentler Society” and whose claimed “message is one of enlightenment, social
progress and intellectual curiosity."
After first checking to
see if the publisher’s email account had been hacked by Russians trying to sow
discord in America, my first thought was of one of my favorite books to read
with children when I was a Head Start teacher in the 1970’s, What Do You
Say, Dear? Just how should you respond to a diatribe you might have heard
in 1958, when that charming book was published?
Written
by Sesyle Joslin and illustrated by Maurice Sendak of Max and his wild things
fame, What Do You Say, Dear? was subtitled, “A handbook of etiquette for
young ladies and gentlemen to be used as a guide for everyday social behavior.”
Its humor was in encouraging polite equanimity in distinctly non-everyday
situations, like your airplane crashing through the roof when the duchess
invites you to “drop in” for tea (“I’m sorry” was the correct thing to say). A
man introduces you to a baby elephant he is offering as a pet (How do you do?).
A knight chops off a dragon’s head to save your life (Thank you very much).
Your patient thanks you for saving his life after a dinosaur bit his finger
(You’re welcome). You bump into a crocodile while shopping downtown (Excuse me).
The queen offers spaghetti for dessert after it was already appetizer and main
course (May I please be excused?). Your hostage on a pirate ship greets you
each morning with “How are you?” (Fine, thank you.).
So,
with Joslin and Sendak as my guide, what should I say, dear, when faced with my
publisher’s antique racism, sexism, and homophobia?
Being
gay is antithetical to nature. What do you mean, dear? While I defend your
right to say this, I see gay people throughout my day living, dying, loving,
hating, succeeding, and failing, like everybody else. What’s unnatural about
that?
You surely are familiar
with recent research on IQ distribution, etc. Yes I am, dear. I
taught statistics at American University for many years. IQ, like the related
SAT scores, is an experience, culture, and income-dependent measure with little
utility in predicting genetic potential. The concept of a difference in the
average intelligence of America’s ethnic groups is an artifact of fabricated
data on twins supposedly raised in different social classes (Sir Cyril Burt,
1940’s) and a misreading of correlation as causation in the groups’ average
test IQ or SAT score (Arthur Jensen, 1960’s).
Your own experience surely shows that the general trend does
not suggest that one could reasonably expect a Black woman (or even a White
woman), to be a hotshot analyst. I’m sorry, dear, but my experience surely shows the
opposite. I’ve worked for and with men and women of a variety of ethnic groups
in America and Africa who blew away my abilities – and I’m a hotshot analyst
myself.
Why on earth would a serious, educated White man support the
demise of the White man?
Kindly release me from my contract, dear (they did). For the reader’s
enjoyment, I’ve posted the entire set of exchanges with the
publisher on my website, calebrossiter.com, here.
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