[This was published in the #3 issue of the Vorpal Sword following my article, “The Negro in Science Fiction.”
For those reading this, you might find the use of the term “Negro” jarring but these articles & letters were written & published in 1968 – before the term “black” came in to common usage & certainly long before “African-American.”]
Those of you who read the last issue of the Vorpal Sword surely remember an article entitled “The Negro in Science Fiction” by one of our astute editors, Ron Stoloff. In this article, Ron (our best resident instigator) tread quite hard upon the toes of one of the best known pro editors in all of Science Fiction fandom – John W Campbell. Instead of suing the fanzine as was expected by some of our timid editors, Mr. Campbell sent Ron a letter stating his opinion of the article and full explanations on why he felt that way about the issues involved. The following contains the full correspondence between Mr. Campbell and Ron Stoloff.
Dear Mr. Stoloff; May 1, 1969
Your decidedly prejudiced rumor-mongering in Vorpal Sword needs answering.
I am somewhat reminded of the time Theodore Roosevelt sued a minuscule newspaper in Upper Peninsula, Michigan, with a circulation of about 3,000 copies, for $1,000,000 in a libel suit.
There had been a rumor passing around the country that Teddy was a bastard – and the little Michigan paper was the first place the rumor had been published – and hence gave Teddy his first opportunity to bring the rumor out into the open and squash it publicly.
My friend, before publishing derogatory rumors – try checking them, huh?
- What Phil Farmer said (in his WorldCon speech) was Phil Farmer’s misinterpretation of what I said: he doesn’t like people who disagree with him, and tends to put sour interpretations on their reasons. I don’t agree with him on a number of subjects.
- Your own remarks concerning my beliefs and statements are uncalled for and untruthful.
Example: You say that “I did not include them (blacks) in his stories or encourage their use because so few blacks read Analog, as he has proven in one of his surveys.”That happens to be 100% false. One of our distribution surveys showed, as a matter of fact, that we have circulation peaks near major research stations (Cape Kennedy, Los Alamos, etc.) near major colleges and technical schools – and in the Negro ghetto areas of major cities. I imagine the reason is that science fiction generally pits homo sapiens against the extra-terrestrial – and that means all of them with no regard for color, race or religion.Think about it a bit, and you’ll realize why there is so little mention of blacks in science fiction: we see no reason to go saying “Lookee, lookee, lookee! We’re using blacks in our stories! See the Black Man. See him in a space ship!”It is my strongly held opinion that any Black should be thrown out of any story, spaceship, or any other place – unless he’s a black MAN. That he’s got no business there just because he’s a black, but every right there if he’s a man. (And the masculine embraces the feminine: Lt. Uhura is portrayed as no clinging vine, and not given to the whimper, whinny and whine type of behavior. She earned her place by competence – not by having a black skin.) - I supported Wallace in the election for precisely the reasons I stated. I strongly disliked both Humphrey and Nixon, and the party manipulations that put them as our choice-with-no-choice. You perhaps approved of the Humphrey-Daley technique of sewing up the nomination in Chicago? The Republican job was much slicker; they used techniques that didn’t show in public to accomplish the same end.
To sum up, part of your attack is based on 100% upside down false rumor. Part is based on the angry misinterpretations made by someone who acutely dislikes disagreements and story rejections, and none of it results from asking me what I meant. In effect, it’s all hearsay evidence, which courts of justice long since found was unusable. Only police state courts admit rumor as evidence.
Look guy – do some thinking about his: How many Negro authors are there in science fiction?
Now consider what effect a biased, anti-Negro editor could have on that. Manuscripts come in by mail from all over the world, (Including the Iron Curtain countries!) I haven’t the foggiest notion what most of the authors look like – and I never yet heard of an editor who demanded a photograph of an author before he’d print their work! Nor demanded a notarized document proving he was white.
If Negro authors are extremely few – it’s solely because extremely few Negros both wish to, and can, write in open competition. There isn’t any possible field of endeavor where race, religion and sex make less difference. If there aren’t any individuals of a particular group in the author’s column – it’s because either they don’t want to, or weren’t able to. It’s got to be unbiased by the very nature of the process of submission.
What I am against – and what has been misinterpreted by a number of people – is the idea that any member of any group has any right to preferential treatment because his is a member. I see no reason why an incompetent Chinese should be given a good job, just because he has a yellow skin – and I don’t consider that a black, red, or pink skin is any better excuse for claiming a “right” to anything. A man has a right to what he earns – and it is just as much gross injustice to give him what he has not earned, as to deprive him of what he has earned.
In that limited sense, I am against much of the modern hoorah about the Negro. I insist that every many should be given what he earns, whether is is reward or punishment. That if we are to have an even-handed justice for all men, then whites have neither more nor less privilege before the law.
And I am not impressed, as some seem to be, by the cracks about how a history of slavery ruins a people for generations.
Instance; “Stoloff” is a Slavic name. The term “Slav” is from the Latin root from which “slave” comes. The Slavs were slaves for a millennium or so, I believe. That’s why Russia is so incompetent and unable to accomplish anything on its own, maybe?
And when people say I’m responsible for what happened to the Negros in the Old South, I get exceedingly irked. One of my great grandfathers was an MD in the Union Army. One hadn’t left Germany at that time. One was a Vermont legislator and active Abolitionist, and one was a minister operating an Underground Railway Station. I’m responsible for southern slavery? How about my Italian friends who didn’t leave Italy for half a century or so after the War?
Let us, for G-d’s sake, get just a little perspective into this situation, a little self honesty, and stop throwing stupid accusations that are based on the paranoid-Aristotelian thinking of “If they don’t agree with me completely, they must belong to the hateful enemy completely!”
I do not agree with you completely.
And if you agreed with me completely, you’d be no one I could or would respect.
My editorials are intended to goad readers into thinking – not to force them to agree.
Why not stop quoting slogans – which is typical of basically good-hearted people and leads Germans into being Nazis – and start thinking of what the data underlying the slogan is?
Sincerely,
John W. Campbell,
Editor
Dear Mr. Campbell; May 21, 1969
Thank you for your detailed and vociferous rebuttal of my article in the Vorpal Sword.
As you sent the letter to me rather than directly to the Sword, I’ve been asked by the editors of that ‘zine to request permission to publish your letter in the #3 issue which, regretfully, will not be out until the time of the PhilCon in November.
As for your rebuttal itself, I have some replies:
About Phillip Jose Farmer’s Reap, I will admit it would have been unfair to use it as the sole basis of an attack on you. But, it was the culmination of both personal feeling and experience which, when added up, seem to yield the conclusions in the article. The conversation Farmer discussed was between the two of you and therefore a regrettable situation of your word versus his – a situation in which I should not become further embroiled as I do not know either of you well enough to make such a decision.
As for the survey question of circulation of Analog amongst blacks, I have only my own personal notes and memory which I cannot confirm either way until the Proceedings come out.
On the point of including blacks in SF itself, I can give you an argument. True, black characters should not be waggled in front of our faces saying “’Lookee….;’” but he can just as easily be put in with as much emphasis as he would get if white. For instance, I just finished Hawkbill Station by Robert Silverberg, a novel which takes place in the US from about 1984 to 2029 and not one black character, emphasis on “no.” I ask you, how can a realistic story of the near future America be described to the exclusion of blacks? Silverberg spent time describing characters who are obviously white, so why not do the same for blacks?
Your backing of Wallace is a most difficult point: As pointed out in my article, I realized that you did not ascribe to all of Wallace’s ideas and ideals, and I personally did not get feelings of great joy over the Republican and Democratic nominees either, but, I must reiterate, “Is Wallace a viable choice just because he is different?” Think what would have happened if he had gotten enough votes to throw the election into the House or even WON! When you backed Wallace, you appealed for his victory, even if you did not state it explicitly.
No one should blame anyone for a past he had nothing to do with – even if his grandparents did – and I feel the recent demand of a New York church for reparations to be ridiculous. If any reparations were due, the people who could receive or who should pay are long dead. Any aid given Negros in particular and the poor generally should be given because they are Men who need help now. But as a man today cannot be blamed for the crimes of his ancestors, neither can he be praised for the good deeds of those ancestors, the DAR notwithstanding, it is what John W. Campbell has said and done which interested me in my article and it would have made no difference if your ancestor was Simon Legree himself or William Lloyd Garrison.
Finally, I wish to thank you for the gracious ending of your letter which was considerably more gracious than the ending of my article, I’m sorry to say. I agree with you no more than you with me and I will respect you as an excellent editor who has some rather strange horses in his editorials but mostly as an excellent editor.
Sincerely yours,
Ron Stoloff
Issue #4 of the Sword will continue the correspondence between Mr. Campbell and Ron Stoloff. Hopefully Issue #4 will be completed in time for the Boskone.
The following letter shows a marked difference in opinion than Mr. Campbell’s on Ron’s article.
[Alas, there was no Vorpal Sword #4]
Dear Ron Stoloff,
Thanks very much for VS#2, which I enjoyed. I’m happy that my REAP speech helped you in your article on “The Negro And Science Fiction.” I hope you’ll write others like it and that others are inspired by you to emulate.
I’m sorry I’m so late acknowledging, but my correspondence got misplaced and I’m way behind answering.
Keep up the good work. We need more like you.
Best,
Philip José Farmer
Ronstoloff's Blog 