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a-what-the-frigg · 5 years ago

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Racism? Why Racism?

Let’s talk about Rick Riordan’s latest blog post justifying his portrayal of Piper McLean.

Recently I’ve gotten some questions from readers about why my character Piper McLean from Heroes of Olympus is sometimes described as wearing a feather/feathers in her hair. The concern is understandable. Is this a negative Native stereotype since Piper is half-Cherokee — the daughter of Tristan McLean, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love?

Is this a negative Native stereotype? Yes. It’s also a racist stereotype and incredibly dumb. Is Piper half-Cherokee? No. “Gods don’t have DNA” so Piper is 100% Cherokee, from her father’s side.

We can certainly talk about that! I can’t always address each question I get individually about any given point in any given book, but in this case, I do feel it would be of value for readers in general to hear. I am happy to share my research and thinking behind the way I depicted Piper, but of course as I’ve said many times, once a book is published, my intentions don’t really matter. The final product has to stand or fall of its own accord. You have to be the judge of whether or not I did well enough and was mindful enough of Piper’s heritage.

“My intentions don’t really matter.” Yet you write an entire fucking essay about why you’re right + people shouldn’t “bully” you about out-of-context “problems”? “You have to be the judge of whether or not I did well enough and was mindful enough of Piper’s heritage.” So what you’re saying is “I wrote a racist trope into my books knowing that it’s racist. But it’s up to you, dear reader, to decide whether or not it’s racist.”

Thankfully, the vast majority of feedback I’ve gotten about Piper from young Native/Indigenous readers over the years has been extremely positive. I included her, after all, because young Native kids I met during school visits asked me if they could be part of Percy Jackson’s world. I always want kids to feel like they are seen and can be heroes in my world, but that doesn’t mean I’m an expert at every kind of representation. No one is. Nor would I feel comfortable if I was making a story focusing exclusively on a Native character or Native sacred stories. I’m not the right person for that. But I did want to do my best to be inclusive, and having grown up in Texas, I knew the most about the Cherokee, so that’s why I chose the Cherokee for Piper’s background. It’s been really wonderful hearing from Native kids over the years that Piper was the first Native character they ever saw in a ‘mainstream’ book. Many have told me how much she meant to them.

“It’s been really wonderful hearing from Native kids over the years that Piper was the first Native character they ever saw in a ‘mainstream’ book. Many have told me how much she meant to them.” this talks about how people liked Piper as a character. Native/Indigenous kids liked her because she was representation in mainstream media. this is what he means when he says the vast majority of feedback. he’s decided to ignore the people who have pointed out that while piper is representation, she is also a racist stereotype. “piper is representation” and “her portrayal was racist” are things that can co-exist and be simultaneously true.

Having said that, would I do anything differently if I were writing Heroes of Olympus in 2020? Of course! I would probably do many things differently, because these books are 5-10 years old. Societal norms change. My mindset and understanding of issues change all the time. Books are always a product of their time. They reflect the state of the author’s skill and worldview when they were created. We write them hoping they will be timeless, but knowing full well they will become dated, sometimes very quickly.

nobody is asking him to rewrite the fucking books we just want an apology for a racist portrayal. Societal norms change. Racism was not okay ten years ago either. I don’t know hoe to tell you this, but the worldview is not a valid reason to do research then ignore everything you’ve learnt just so that you can make Piper seem like she’s “accepting her culture”

For one thing, if I were writing these characters today, I would want to use sensitivity readers. I admit that isn’t a term I had even heard of back in 2009. This alone, of course, would not inoculate me from making mistakes. No group is a monolith, and opinions/reactions will always vary widely, but having someone check the work is definitely helpful. What I did instead is what I almost always do before writing characters. I read a lot. More on that in a moment.

you still should use sensitivity readers, rick. there’s still plenty wrong with your latest books. as @patrickriordan pointed out, leo still calls his girlfriend “mamacita”.

So generally speaking, if I would do things differently now, why don’t I rewrite the books? There are a number of considerations here. It’s true that occasionally, if I stupidly include an offensive term and it’s pointed out to me soon after publication, I am able to work with my publisher to change that term in future editions. I’m happy to do this, but even this is of limited effectiveness.

Why? Changing things in electronic editions is easy. Alas, a tiny fraction of middle school book sales like mine are electronic, so that really doesn’t affect many copies. As for physical books, the vast majority of sales will be from the first printing. There is no guarantee there will be any future editions. For the Heroes of Olympus books, for instance, I would estimate that 90% of the copies of those books that will ever exist, already do. Case in point: Six months ago, we complained to an international publisher whose translation of a certain book turned Will and Nico from boyfriends to friends. Erasure! Not okay! The publisher apologized and promised to fix it in future editions. Recently, another reader spotted this same error and complained again. “Why isn’t this fixed yet?” Well, because there haven’t been any new editions. The old books are still out there in stores, or in libraries, or in people’s personal collections.

1) nobody. is. asking. you. to. rewrite. the. books.

2) thank you for this explanation absolutely NO ONE asked for!!!!!!!!!!!! we get it! you can’t rewrite the books! we didn’t ask for a rewrite, we asked for an apology or just acknowledgement of your racist portrayal of an Indigenous character!!!

All this puts the responsibility on me to get it right the first time. If I don’t, I can apologize and try to do better in the future, but most of the time, the book is what it is. Constantly changing the text to update its language or depictions isn’t practical, and I’d also argue it usually isn’t a good idea. The older the book, the more problematic it tends to be. We know this. But books are a snapshot of the time when they were created. Huckleberry Finn. Wow, super problematic language. But trying to update it to make it unproblematic would be problematic in its own right, because it would erase a record of the issues the book reflects. (A topic I wrestled with when the ‘New South’ edition of Huck Finn came out nine years ago.) We have to take these books as they are, discuss them for what they are, and decide whether or not they still have value, maybe just as markers for how society has changed (or hasn’t). That’s an extreme example. Unlike Samuel Clements, I am still alive, but the point still holds. Given our ever-evolving social landscape, 5-10 years is a very long time for a book to stay current.

maybe comparing a mid-grade novel to huckleberry finn wasn’t the best idea. you can see how it is wrong to use huckleberry finn as an example to absolve yourself of any responsibility regarding your racist stereotype, right? huckleberry finn????

Okay, so Piper. First thing I would say: The feather-wearing was intentional. It was not an oversight or an unconscious use of tropes. You can decide for yourself how you feel about that after reading the “why” below.

intentional. as we find out soon, rick really did a lot of research and ultimately decided this racist trope was worth it.

For Piper’s background, I started with James Mooney’s book History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee. Now, Mooney was a white guy, so that’s a drawback. He was an anthropologist born in 1861 who worked for the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. He spent a lot of time with the Eastern Cherokee, learning their language, preserving their original manuscripts and recording their stories. At a time when it was rare for Whites, he had reverence and respect for Native cultures, though of course his perspective was that of a privileged outsider. His book came out in 1900. He was not Native, but he recorded a lot of material directly from the Cherokee of the 19th century, and his work is still referenced by Cherokee writers today. It’s not a perfect source, but it is still the most comprehensive collection of Cherokee stories available from that time, to my knowledge, and believe me, I have looked. Most of the sacred stories that Tristan and Piper talk about in Heroes of Olympus come from Mooney’s collection.

okay. so most of the Cherokee sacred stories/representation came from a book written by a non-Native?

One thing that struck me in Mooney’s book was the importance of feathers in Cherokee traditions. The eagle, especially, awâ’hïlï, was/is considered their “great sacred bird” (1992: 3928), a parallel to Roman beliefs that I found interesting. Found feathers of various birds can signify many things, either good or bad. Mooney reported that in the 1800s, eagle feathers “for decorative of ceremonial purposes” (3928) were regarded by the Cherokee as often “equal in value to a horse” (3928). Very strict rules accompanied the killing of an eagle and the collecting of its feathers for the Eagle dance, which was/is an important ritual (3939). Most of the time, feathers had to be found. Mooney says, “only the greatest warriors and those versed in the sacred ordinances would dare to wear the feathers and carry them in the dance” (3954). This, too, I found quite interesting. Feathers were so important to the Eastern Cherokee of the 1800s that their villages often had two separate “feather houses” (3954) where the sacred items were stored.

so you’re saying that piper was one of the greatest warriors and was versed in the sacred ordinances?? because i don’t think so. she wasn’t raised immersed in her culture, was she? additionally, it was piper’s choice to wear feathers in her hair. i’m not Native, but people who are Native ( @piperisgaymade a post here) have made it pretty clear that she is not in the position to decide for herself.

One of the stories Mooney recorded, “The Mounds and the Constant Fire,” lists a feather from the right wing of an eagle as one of the most important ingredients in a Cherokee ritual for establishing and protecting a new settlement (6161). He also recorded a wryly funny story that struck me as a warning about taking people too seriously just because they are wearing a lot of feathers. In this legend, a local man discovers peacocks from the Whites who live nearby. He makes a headdress of the peacock feathers, which he claims are “star feathers” (6229). He passes himself off as a great prophet until the community discovers he is a fraud.

After Mooney’s book, I turned to the work of Robert J. Conley, a writer and member of the Cherokee Nation (the Western Cherokees). His Cherokee Nation is the official history of his people, sanctioned by the Western Cherokee leadership. (Incidentally, the book draws heavily on Mooney as a source, which goes to show how reliant we are on earlier imperfect written records. Mooney is mentioned 92 times!) I also read Conley’s memoire Cherokee Medicine Man about his friend John Little Bear, a Cherokee healer, and Cherokee Thoughts: Honest and Uncensored. These were all incredibly helpful in understanding modern Cherokee life in Oklahoma, where Piper would have been born.

so your other source for Piper’s culture was also heavily reliant on the same non-Native book??

On the subject of feathers, Conley has a lot to say. He definitely hates the trope of “chiefing,” which is the reinforcement of the stereotype that “all Indians looked and acted like Sioux Indians: Indians on horseback wearing feathered headdresses chasing buffalos” (2008: 45). He says that “anyone looking for feathers, chanting and dance with Native American ritual would almost certainly go away from a genuine Cherokee ritual disappointed. It’s not for show. It just gets the job done” (Medicine Man 2005: 69).

do i really need to explain this? is it not glaringly obvious why this is incredibly stupid? “wearing feathers is a stereotype that my main sources do not like!! however i will make my character wear feathers because she is bad-ass!!”

On the other hand, he confirms the importance of feathers in many aspects of Cherokee tradition. He reports an early story about a Cherokee man named Dutch who “shaved his hair close to the skin, leaving only a small tuft on the top of his head in which to fasten his headdress made of the short feathers of the hawk” (History 2005: 2274). In more recent times, he talks about how preparing feathers for the staffs of the feather dance is an all-day affair (Medicine Man 2005: 122). In traditional Cherokee medicine, feathers have great significance for good or ill. In particular, “eagle feathers are used for protection” (137). A white crane worn in a hat will attract women (137). Conley’s friend Little Bear uses an eagle feather as a prime ingredient for a healing ritual for a mutual friend named Jim (146). Feathers are sometimes depicted as swinging or twisting to indicate the presence of bad medicine.

tldr; feathers are important and sacred in Native culture.

The more I wrote about Piper, the more I needed to research, so at the recommendation of some modern Cherokee writers, I read The Turtle Island Liars Club, a collection of stories and conversations from Eastern Cherokee storytellers, and Living Stories of the Cherokee, collected from the Eastern Cherokee by Barbara Duncan, who is white, but who published under the auspices and with the approval of the Eastern Cherokee tribal leadership.

so these modern Cherokee writers you mentioned. you couldn’t have consulted with about how you’d written Piper to wear feathers and about whether or not this propagated racist stereotypes?

These stories reinforced what I had read previously about the significance of feathers in Cherokee tradition. In Turtle Island, several storytellers converse about the significance of finding feathers, especially hawk feathers, which they see as signs that carry great personal meaning (2003: 99). At the same time, Living Stories bemoans “chiefing” the same way Conley does, criticizing the white tendency of thinking “of all Indians being feather-wearing, pony-tiding, tipi-living people” (1997: 105). Duncan also shares a funny story of a Cherokee storyteller who is invited to attend an event. When she shows up in her normal street clothes, the audience is disappointed because they wanted “a real Indian with the feathers” (141). The storyteller says there must have been a misunderstanding. She is a Cherokee, not a chicken.

All of these sources taught me that there is a danger in “chiefing.” Ceremonial headdresses, while they are documented in certain Cherokee stories, are a trope to be avoided since they evoke the “all Indians are like Sioux Indians” stereotype. But at the same time, feathers have an authentic and important place in Cherokee tradition.

feathers are important; all your sources say “chiefing” is a negative stereotype. so why would you write it into your books anyway?

In The Lost Hero, Piper does not wear a feather in her hair. The only mention of “feathered hair” (2010: 368) is Tristan McLean’s old photos from the 1980s, and this does not refer to actual feathers. It is just an unfortunate hairstyle we had back then. (I have pictures of myself to prove it.) Piper did not grow up immersed in her Cherokee heritage. She has spent most of her life in Southern California. Her dad, too, has very mixed emotions about his Native background and his relationship to his father, who was more traditional. This, from my readings, is not at all unusual in multigenerational Cherokee families. When Piper finds out she is a demigod, she starts on a long journey of trying to understand what this means. In what ways is she a demigod? In what ways is she Cherokee? Who is she?

The first time she is shown wearing a feather is in The Mark of Athena. She wears a single eagle feather braided in her hair (2012: 3). To me, this was an indication that Piper had begun exploring and claiming her heritage in her own way. She now feels comfortable wearing a powerful symbol of a warrior, and also a symbol of protection from the Cherokee tradition. Later, she is described as wearing two white feathers (207). I imagined these as being still eagle feathers. Conley notes that when present for protection or medicine purposes, feathers are often used in pairs (Medicine 2005: 137). On a couple of occasions, I note that the feather is swinging like a pendulum in Piper’s hair, or that she is fiddling with it (2012: 24). To me, this hearkened back to the importance of the feather as an indicator of protection from nearby medicine.

“To me, this was an indication that Piper had begun exploring and claiming her heritage in her own way.” “ To me, this hearkened back to the importance of the feather as an indicator of protection from nearby medicine. “ to you? a non-Native? people can claim their heritage in ways that are not inherently racist!!!

Finally, in The House of Hades, Piper kills a wild harpy all by herself, which she considers a big milestone in her growth as a hero. The only thing that remains of the harpy is a blue feather. Piper wears this in her hair to remind her of her own strength and courage. “It was a reminder that she wasn’t the same girl she’d been last winter, when they’d first arrived at Camp Half-Blood” (2013: 598). As mentioned above, found feathers in Cherokee tradition often hold high symbolic value, so this made perfect sense to me.

piper! cannot! decide! whether! or! not! she! can! wear! feathers! in! her! hair!! just because she’s a great warrior now does not give her the ability to make that choice for herself!!!

And that’s it! That’s why Piper wears those feathers. The final point I’d make: Piper has a headstrong personality and a stubborn streak, so she definitely is not a person who would think, Gee, I’m Native, so I can’t wear a feather because that might send the wrong message. If anything, she would say, To Hades with it. I don’t care what you think. I’m Cherokee and I’m going to express that however I want.

piper may be headstrong and stubborn but she is not disrespectful of her culture. that being said, piper is a fictional character and you absolutely CANNOT hide your blatant racist stereotype behind her.

Whether that stands up to scrutiny, you will have to judge! For some it will. For some it won’t. I always do my best to try to satisfy and respect all readers, but I also know that I will never be able to reach 100% on how my work is received. That’s just human nature. Different readers (even those of similar backgrounds) will react differently to different texts, and as in all things, that diversity makes the world a much more interesting place!

“Whether that stands up to scrutiny, you will have to judge!” It does not. Do not give us a half-assed cover-up for your racism and give us the “choice” to decide whether or not it is valid. “I always do my best to try to satisfy and respect all readers” so we’re just going to ignore the blatant lespophobia you displayed against your young wlw and lesbian readers with Reyna/Thalia, then?

this pathetic explanation doesn’t even mention the other terrible writing decision you made with piper: making her a kleptomaniac, propagating the Natives-are-thieves stereotype.

tldr; rick’s portrayal of piper is racist as fuck, his explanation is sloppy and racist as fuck and his claim of being “bullied” by fans is stupid as fuck.

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