But where are the Indigenous Q2S?
There ought to be Indigenous Q2S
Well, maybe next year
There ought to be Indigenous Q2S
Well, maybe next year
Those are revised lines from a song my cousin Maddie sang for a concert. "The writer was gay," she told me. "IS gay," I said. "And, so what?" She sneered, which is not unusual.
The vow we made when Indie died was to fight queerphobia is every form, and to promote Q2S voices. In this, we have failed.
Looking at AICL's great "Best of 2018" list, I am struck by the cishet-ness of it all. Except for Joshua Whitehead's JONNY APPLESEED. No shade on AICL. That's what was published. And I am especially struck by the cishet-ness of this blog and our @ofglades Twitter.
Though Twitter has been the best teacher. We are ALWAYS learning from Daniel Heath Justice and Laura Jimenez. We are learning from Alex Gino and Kyle Lukoff. We are learning from Kheryn Callender.
It is actually Kheryn's YA novel THIS IS KIND OF AN EPIC LOVE STORY that made me step back and think about all this. Here is the dedication page, which prompted my revised lyrics.
I have not finished reading the book, but I know Indie would have loved it. It is a rom-com about a group of friends who are all cisgender but defy heteronormative standards. I want to see a dedication page like that on an Indigenous MG or YA novel.
I know that Indie would be grateful for Twitter threads about the problems with the #ownvoices tag where sometimes people might not be 100% cis and also not ready to discuss their gender identity publicly. Those of us who knew and loved Indigo witnessed her brilliant, unfinished transition.
We are learning not to center Native/Indigenous issues at the expense of Q2S issues. Playing the good ally now and again doesn't mean anything (with ableism too--Michael is going to write about that) if we are not aware of our cishet privilege AT ALL TIMES.
Intersection is a way of life. Our generation doesn't embrace the binary like our parents. Everybody knows somebody. It's not happening "over there." It's starting early. The literature has to begin with board books, like for any other kids.
We have seen kidlit and yalit scholars we respect say, "I won't post this Best of List, because of an anti-IPOC book." But they post others with queerphobic (and ablest) books. Indigo hated this book. She was attacked and patronized for her public comments. Only Laura Jimenez defended her. It's EVERYWHERE. It WILL win awards.
When she was Julian's age, Indigo was such a pretty, clever brown boy. Her mother doted on her. Her father beat her. Her grandma Cookie accepted her. Once she went through puberty, it wasn't so cute but threatening, especially when she became angry and made demands. Her face and chest weren't smooth. She risked violence for presenting in public. Her life wasn't a colorful parade. White cishet librarians explaining to her how "important" this book is made her bare her teeth.
If you know and love IPOC Q2S people, you know they are torn back and forth. They face prejudice on all sides. If they are forced to choose, they don't always choose cishet Native community and family over Q2S community and family. They may resent binary traditions and ceremonies that we hold close. That's their right. They are also terrified of losing sovereignty.
I am (we are) listening and thinking about all of this. I want to mention this book: LOVE BEYOND BODY, SPACE AND TIME: An LGBT and two-spirit sci-fi anthology. This was the book that meant the most to Indie. (Her second favorite was Laurie Halse Anderson's SPEAK.)
Indie's favorite story in the anthology was Daniel Heath Justice's "The Boys Who Became Hummingbirds." The publisher, Bedside Press, donated many copies to our library where they are now a book club kit in Indigo's honor.
We have failed our friend, whose name we are using and it's sometimes trending. Is it enough to promise to do better? So many broken promises.
*Written by Alexis. Discussed and supported by the team. I know I have gotten things wrong here. Please correct me.
Thank you for this.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve been blogging for all of about 3 months. I know when one’s a kid, that may feel like FOREVER, but please cut yourselves some slack... You haven’t “failed” your friend, you just haven’t *yet* found new titles to review which center characters she’d find relatable and compelling. This is on the publishers, too, if there’s not enough such material available. (As you point out, AICL’s “Best Of” list didn’t find much in 2018 either...)
ReplyDeleteYou HAVE gotten a book club set of Indigo’s favorite anthology into your library; you ARE bringing up the issues of CisHet-ness; you’re TRYING, and you’re doing a LOT. Don’t beat yourselves up ‘cause you aren’t doing ALL the Things RIGHT NOW.
Oh, and thanks for writing about LOVE BEYOND BODY, SPACE, AND TIME. It’s another book I’d missed when it came out; it sounds good and I’ve got it on my next book order. I think it’ll sell at one of my upcoming conventions this spring, and I haven’t seen it from any other book dealers out here.