The Vanilla Ice of the Literary World

A few weeks ago I read a book review in the NYT Times of Margaret Jones' book, Love and Consequences. The book was about a half-Native American, half-White girl gang member in South Central Los Angeles. The girl ends up in foster care and is raised by a Black American family. Frankly, my first impression was that the White part of the girl's race probably helped her to get the book deal. In my mind I felt that the editor would have been less receptive had the author been a young Black woman. I then stopped and thought that my thinking may have been whack---was I being a reverse racist? Shouldn't her story be judged on its merits??

Well, it turned out that the book was indeed a fraud. Last week it was discovered that “Margaret B. Jones is a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer, a full fledged White girl who grew up in the affluent Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles. Moreover she lives with her biological family, has never lived with a foster family, or hustled drugs for any street gang. Margaret Seltzer, like rap artist Vanilla Ice is simply another example of White folks pimping the 'hood to make a buck.

There has been a long history of White Americans adopting ethnic identities, particularly that of Native Americans and Black Americans and deeming themselves competent to speak for these "others." In their twisted rationale these Vanilla Ices often believe that they are helping these noble, but simple people whom they impersonate by using their White savvy to get their stories out to the public. Why not then write fiction or assist these disenfranchised folks to tell their own stories? Unfortunately these impostor memoirs typically cater to preconceived notions about Native Americans and the experiences of urban Blacks, since the authors frequently have no first-hand knowledge to draw from in creating their fictional persona and narratives.

One would think that editors would have learned something after the outting of James Frey's memoir "A Million Little Pieces" as a fake and the J.T, LeRoy debacle. Laura Albert, a Brooklyn woman claimed to be J.T. LeRoy, a Southern, transgendered (biological male) former street kid/hustler. Why haven't editors begun to require authors to provide some shred of evidence to back-up their "autobiographies"? In that case of Margaret Seltzer, a few calls to law enforcement or California social services agencies probably would have exposed this lie in the manuscript stage.

In a press release, JLove Calderon, an activist and author speaks out saying,
“We must respond to the daily injustices perpetuated on people with low income and people of color and we must do so with integrity and partnership. It is not in anyone’s best interest to speak for them, attempting to be someone’s “savior.” We must be focused on supporting people standing up and telling their own story; their own truth.”

Calderon’s novel That White Girl, inspired by her own life, is a coming of age hip-hop oriented story that explores a young woman’s struggles and triumphs as a middle class Irish Catholic white girl navigating her way through her new family - the Crips, a notorious street gang. Although the book has been well received it has not been a national sensation because according to Calderon, "The country is not as ready to deal honestly with some of the deeper, more uncomfortable issues of race, class, and privilege. My life, on the other hand, is dedicated to truth, love, and freedom. I spend all my waking hours working with my fellow activists to dismantle unfair and oppressive systems and institutions which are the root causes of issues such as gang violence, the prison industrial complex, and poverty.”

The fact that so many media outlets including the NYT praised Love and Consequences and ignored White Girlmakes one simply say what the @#$%!