But the worst signs are those that don’t announce themselves. “Yes, of course a sign of authoritarianism. Heyman was charged with “willful disruption of state government processes.” Tom Price never answered Heyman’s question.Īnd, this past winter, after the Department of Health and Human Services released a list of words CDC employees should avoid in order to increase their chances of getting funding- a list that included words like “transgender,” “vulnerable,” and “diversity”-author and expert on autocratic regimes Sarah Kendzior wrote: Journalist Dan Heyman was arrested in Virginia last May for repeatedly asking then-Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the Republican health bill that had just cleared the House. She reposted the death threats on Facebook.
Since then, writers in various fields have faced increasingly hostile threats.Īuthor and activist Ijeoma Oluo received death threats on Twitter last August after making a joke about leaving a rural Cracker Barrel without enduring racial violence. Last January, writers across fifty cities and three continents gathered to re-affirm their support of freedom of expression. Sam Cha, from “How We Came to America (1)”Ī note: if you’re far from Boston but still want to support our work, you can donate to us directly, and if you want to support an organization that’s keeping us all informed of the difficult details in the news right now, we’re especially reliant on ProPublica these days, and we’d love to keep them in business.
“I looked down at the thing inside the case, nestled in black foam rubber. Let’s get together and recommit to writing our way through this administration, and making ourselves heard among all the noise. If you need another reason, the kind crew at DigBoston ran an excerpt from Sam Cha’s American Carnage to plug the event, so check out a bit of the opening below and read the rest at DigBoston-or if you’re in town, it’s also in the print edition!-and be sure to come to the BPL in Copley Square on Saturday to hear Sam kick off Writers Resist. I hope you’ll consider attending on Saturday.
We’re just three days from Greater Boston Writers Resist, and it’s impossible to overemphasize the need for free press right now. Many thanks to all the co-sponsoring organizations, especially the Boston Public Library and Brookline Booksmith, and to Randolph Pfaff, who took these photos: Kim McLarin‘s Womanish: A Grown Black Woman Speaks on Love and Life (forthcoming) Timothy Patrick McCarthy‘s Stonewall’s Children: Living Queer History in the Age of Liberation, Loss, and Love (forthcoming) Jennifer De Leon’s Wise Latinas and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From (forthcoming)Īlexandria Marzano-Lesnevich’s The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir I strongly encourage you to support their work by visiting the links below. Many of the authors who read and presented work on Saturday have books you can buy. Write the parts of your life that the rest of us need to see. Don’t shy away from the topics that you think are off limits. I urged the audience on Saturday to listen closely to the work and the words of these authors, but also to look to themselves. But the more important question is: in what ways are we comfortable enough to simply dismiss society’s problems because we don’t believe we’re affected? And what will it take to to look inward and question that comfort, and write honestly about the ways white supremacy, heteronormativity, wealth disparity, and hatred permeates our communities, even the communities as liberal as we believe we have here in Boston? We could quibble to what degree everyone is affected. Climate change affects everyone, and you better believe denying science does too. The fight for equal rights and protections for queer and trans communities, especially in communities of color, affects everyone. Gun violence and police brutality affects everyone. For the writers who’ve always voiced dissent, and written about politicized issues: the subjects of their work are the topics that affect all of us.
When I started organizing last week’s Boston Writers Resist event, I knew I wanted Writers Persist to be part of the title.