A Potential Petition to Sanderson
Hello! This is going to be a serious post. I know engagement on these is normally low, but I would like you to boost this: this is something I cannot do alone; it hinges on community involvement.
Sanderson has stated multiple times that he has control over art of his novels, but does not make the artists draw the characters per their canonical design because he âfeels bad.â Not to mention this fundamental complicity, professional-level whitewashing is the greatest out for artists accused of it. He is quiet on the issue of racism, but has stated that he would like to know if he is portraying it wrong. His missteps have led to a proliferation of racism in this fandom that you do not see in those of similar authorsâthis is extra distressing when the series features poc prominently.
I donât know how to make one, but I would like to generate interest in a petition addressed to Sanderson, which someoneâpreferrably someone that can commit the emotional labor of a potentially aggressive encounterâcan deliver to him.
I would like bring three points to him:
that he has a responsibility to avoid whitewashing in official artwork;
that his aversion to describing characters for their features is similarly culpable; and
that he should work harder to denounce present racism, or at least not say âOur fandom has no problems!â as he has before.
If this gets boosted (Iâll be honest: Iâm not very faithful), I know there will be a certain kind of response to it. I ask of those who ostensibly support a drive to reduce racism to devote a bit more energy to responding to it.
