The Rhetorics of Color-Blind
Racism in Racefail 09
Presented at:
Amazing, Fantastic, Weird:
Science Fiction Studies in Texas Symposium
April 15, 2010
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Schema

Anything But Race: It’s class, not race

I am not a racist, but…

Projection: They're prejudiced/ dislike white
people

Racial Epithets: Jim Crow vs. Post Civil Rights

Some of my Best Friends/Girlfriend or
boyfriend/Spouse are…
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Schema

Taking All Sides: There are good/bad arguments on both
sides, but

Abstract Liberalism: Equal Opportunity; Cannot force
change; Economic Liberalism; Merit

Naturalization: It's just the way people are; We all do it;
Self Segregation

Cultural Racism: It's Their Culture; They have different
values

Minimization of Racism: It's better now than in the past;
They're playing the race card
Additions to Schema
Racial Epithets w/in Fan Community
Orcs, Orcing, Trolling Hordes, Nithlings
Rationale: "Canadian" used to mean
"nigger" by Southern white racists
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/297666
http://www.slaw.ca/2008/01/18/the-friday-fillip-86/
Additions to Schema
Faux Demand for “Education” (Yeloson)
Asks for information then does not
follow-up or do searches
 Answers met with challenge/demand for
more proof

Basic File Statistics (UAM)
BEAR
LAKE
Words in text
28809
7331
Sentences in text
1991
463
Av. Word Length
4.6
4.69
Av. Sentence Length
14.4
15.8
Lexemes per sentence
7.58
8.36
Lexemes % of text
52.43
52.83
1 person Reference
4.0508
3.533
2 person Reference
1.2877
1.528
3 person Reference
3.1066
2.469
Length
Text Complexity
Lexical Density
Reference Density (% of tokens
Bear and Lake Statistics
Orig Poster
Jay Lake
E Bear/MAT
# Com
# Agree
# Disagree
Both/And
69
16
5
3
305
34
1
4
Thread Topics (Lake)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
America multicultural; race is label (6)
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't"
(2)
Objectivity (no cultural appropriation) (18)
Gender (male authors/female characters;
female authors/male characters) (2)
Own work (7)
Human rights vs. censorship, artistic truth
(6)
Thread Topics (Bear’s)
Guy Gavriel Kay (7)
Pattern Recognition (theory) (4)
Albinos in literature (18)
Historical Inequalities (fiction; SU, FBI) (14)
BBC (4)
Ellen Klages (7)
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't" (20)
Good characters not stereotype AXE (5)
Af-Am Immigration Britain
Write autobiographical story and told it was bad (8)
Research "getting out more" (3)
WASP as Exotic; Europeans as OTHER/AU (8)
Furries, GLBT (12)
WASP/WHITE (62 total)
lesbian separatism, Wicca
Major foci of disagreements in this thread
In-jokes about 80s lesbians
Research 2 (asking people) (9)
Privilege (13)
religion
UK not PC (8)
Defends individual ally
Works Cited
Bear, Elizabeth. http://matociquala.livejournal.com/1544111.html
Bidisha. Guardian online. Blog Entry. January 25.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/25/science-fiction-diversity-gender
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the
United States. 2nd ed. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
Fanhistory. http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Race_wank#The_Cultural_Appropriation_Discussi
on_of_Doom
Fanlore. http://fanlore.org/wiki/RaceFail_%2709
Feminist SF Wiki. http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=RaceFail_09
Henry, Liz. http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/148996.html?view=2476804#cmt2476804
Metafilter's "A tempest" in LiveJournal January 19, 2009
http://www.metafilter.com/78433/Science-Fiction-LiveJournal-and-Magical-Negros (dated January 19,
2009);
Lake, Jay. http://jaylake.livejournal.com/1692287.html
Merrick, Helen. The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms. Seattle:
Aqueduct Press, 2009.
Rydra Wong's Comprehensive List: http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/148996.html
Shapiro, Laura. White Privilege Icon.
Yeloson. “Educate me!” http://yeloson.livejournal.com/718724.html