Why I Stopped Watching Doctor Who – Sci-fi and Fantasy Network
Why I Stopped Watching Doctor Who - Sci-fi and Fantasy Network: Fans of Colour deserve better roles, better writing and better visibility in Science fiction and fantasy!
I wrote the poem below for MancuniCon, the U.K. Easter sci fi…
I wrote the poem below for MancuniCon, the U.K. Easter sci fi convention. I sadly experienced a few racist incidents whilst at this event, as I do most places I go. However, when I wrote this poem, I thought about how white science fiction and fantasy is in general, and how the possibility of people of colour inhabiting a fictional space makes so many defensive unless we are subservient to white folks. The poem is inspired by my all time fave episode of any Star Trek series, Far Beyond the Stars, on Deep Space Nine.
Jake Sisko
I don’t want to be the only black soul in space
I don’t want to break through the atmosphere
I don’t wanna blast off to an unknown place
I want to stay right here
Cos if black folks board those rocket ships
Ain’t nothing new it gonna prove
Cos all they really want us for
Is to shine those white folks shoes
You may say a brave new world’s waiting
Where a man can truly be free
But this black soul be contemplating
This here world and the racist cruelty I’ve seen
Freedom don’t come beyond the stars
I won’t find it way up there
Freedom means stories of my own
Where black folks sit in the captain’s chair
And ain’t it sweet you imagine aliens
Being red and blue and green
But black folks in sci-fi are impossible
Too unbelievable to be seen
That’s why I choose to write what I do
Black fantasy is why I’m here
Far beyond the stars may look good to you
But son, I ain’t got the fare
OctoCon – The Irish Sci-Fi convention (or activism never has a…
OctoCon - The Irish Sci-Fi convention (or activism never has a day off)
In last week’s episode of Jacq goes to a Sci-Fi convention…
I’ve been to 3 conventions prior to OctoCon. Dragon Con was awful. Nine Worlds was pretty bad. EasterCon (Dysprosium) was good. I was completely ignored at DragonCon - as in I’d talk to someone & they’d look at me with a blank stare. A panelist called me a Troll at Nine Worlds when I spoke up about cultural appropration. So far, so bad.
Dysprosium had more than its fair share of racist attendees - from the man proudly wearing a Gollywog badge, to an attendee demanding I explain to him & his mates how to end racism. The good thing about Dysprosium was the organisers were brilliant when I spoke to them about these problems. They got on with sorting out these issues quickly, & reassured me that I was being listened to. It is something I really appreciated. I shouldn’t have to face these kind of problems at any event, but they kept on happening. I didn’t have very high hopes for OctoCon. But in the end, it was fantastic!
I took part in 5 panels, including 4 that were decidely LGBT+ and sex positive. Where most conventions will have a single diversity panel (or in the case of Nine Worlds, a track), OctoCon had diversity woven into every single session. I didn’t only hear about or from People of Colour in the Race & Sci-Fi type sessions, but in the ones on Timetravel, in Genderqueerness and inErotica in fiction too. This is no small thing for me; having been used to being shoved in a ‘ghetto’ of ethnicity at events. The fact that there weren’t even that many People of Colour in attendance didn’t alter the fact that I felt listened to at OctoCon. I felt respected. I had loads of fun and learned new things about the worlds of gaming, science fiction and fantasy. And with the added bonus of a lot of seriously HOT folks in attendance, what more could I ask for?
Go to OctoCon. http://2015.octocon.com You know it makes sense.
And support the bid for Dublin 2019 too! http://dublin2019.com
Better than a Quinn Martin production.