Resignations at Poetry Foundation
It's been a week, and no one has mentioned this. Anyway:
Poetry Foundation Leadership Resigns After Black Lives Matter Statement Quote:
Here's the text of the letter objecting to its vagueness, signed by about 1,800 people. |
Nearly 100 views and nothing, Julie. Seems that poets aren't interested in poetry. Or at least not in Poetry. Well, as is my wont I'll stick my head over the parapet and say, predictably enough, I think it seems like a bit of a sideshow. Are resignations being demanded from other US journals who also haven't read these people's minds and responded in exactly the right way? What about journals and organisations who haven't issued statements at all, are resignations being demanded from them? OK, I'm being slightly flippant, I realise the writers are all connected to Poetry in some way. So, I know about 'silence is violence'. I didn't realise 'language that is entirely supportive but insufficiently specific and/or lengthy' was also violence. Poetry's statement said "there is much work to be done, and we are committed to engaging in this work to eradicate institutional racism" and that the magazine is "committed to making this a priority" (my italics). Fairly vague, but entirely positive as a starting point, surely. Why not wait a while, at least longer than 48 hours, and see how the magazine might start to make good on this commitment before you begin issuing demands and demanding resignations? Or at least express your disappointment in the statement's platitudes and ask for something more concrete first. Also, in terms of diversity of representation, isn't Poetry, more than most places, fairly exemplary? I did a quick Google (not an extensive study admittedly) of contributors from a random issue in 2001 and a random issue in 2019. The representation of poets of colour seems to have increased massively in the last two decades. I don't really see a literary journal as having any more obligations to equality than this. The statement also said "We believe in the strength and power of poetry to uplift in times of despair, and to empower and amplify the voices of this time, this moment". This seems entirely appropriate for a poetry journal and, to me, important work in itself. I know the PF is wealthy, but from my understanding that's mainly down to one giant donation from Ruth Lilley in 2003, not from any connection to sinister establishment forces. They can do what they want with their windfall, can't they? It's their money. They're a poetry organisation, not a civil-rights charity or a branch of government. And as I said above, it seems to me that they have been pretty blameless since their cash injection in terms of inclusivity on an artistic front. This seems like another example of exactly the wrong people being targeted because those doing the targeting know that a liberal conscience and the fear of being 'woke-shamed' (I think I just made that up) is more likely to make them capitulate. I can't see what good it will do anyone. I hope every one of these 1800 signaturies have also done something productive recently beyond this easy show of outrage: joined or financially supported a left wing or anti-racism organisation, written to relevant politicians, engaged in real and worthwhile activism beyond the social media echo chamber, even been actively kind to a needy stranger maybe. I hope in all good conscience they can look at the "do more and do better" from their letter and apply it to themselves. I hope they do all these things and also vote for Joe Biden, flawed as he is and distasteful as some of them may find him, otherwise they aren't serious people and don't understand the stakes of the next four years.
It's also telling to me that the people named in the first of the list of demands Quote:
Quote:
Maybe I'm being needlessly cynical. The letter writers have made their point and the people resigning are hardly going to struggle financially. And maybe new people really will 'do better' somehow. Hope so. Anyway, I hearby announce my own resignation from GT because I'm no doubt getting a reputation for being the grumpy voice of 'political correctness gone mad'. I'm sure I'm not. I voted for Jeremy Corbyn twice you know! ;) |
I’d hazard a guess that the Poetry Foundation resigners were wise in that they saw that in the present hyper-explosive minefield of emotions and shoot from the hip accusations, there was no way anyone could avoid trouble except by quitting the field.
|
x
Allen said it. What Allen said. x x |
x
Mark: "I voted for Jeremy Corbyn twice you know!" Never, ever reveal who you've voted for. Or what you paid for that airplane ticket. Or what that hotel room costed. There is a new way of lying that is magic. It involves misdirection and double talk and blatant denial. I'm kidding of course (right?). I voted for George Bush in 2004. I once got a free upgrade to first class and sat next to the Dalai Lama. I've stayed at a few hotels that clearly gave me a sense I did not belong there. They were right. (Right?) Topic derailed. Sorry Julie. x x |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Don't worry, I shall bore no more. It was my last hurrah. I'm definitely done here. It's exhausting. |
I ran the "I'm on Team Nobody" flag up the mast, wrote a poem, and basically cracked jokes at everyone's expense on social media, so it didn't exactly go without notice so much as it got discussed in venues besides Eratosphere.
|
Quote:
Also, most of the letter-writers' unhappiness seems to be with personnel decisions (which are not visible even to regular readers of Poetry), rather than with decisions about which poets they choose to publish (which are far more noticeable). Quote:
The only question is whether they can get away with claiming solidarity when they aren't actually investing much in making the sorts of changes that the letter-signers have been pushing them to make, for some time. Talk is cheap. Any organization that appears to want to score easy PR points by claiming solidarity with the Black community at this time, without committing to making any specific changes to address its own well-documented diversity, equity, and inclusion deficits, is bound to look a teensy bit hypocritical. See this parody (you might need to click on the image to see the whole text): https://twitter.com/Campster/status/1267183124582215680 Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
And also this. (I'm not here btw. You ain't seen me. This is Stewart Lee's contribution to the discussion) https://youtu.be/W2firijxQOo |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:45 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.