In the latest case of corporate social responsibility gone wrong, America’s largest book franchise Barnes & Noble is under fire for a misjudged Black History Month publishing initiative to promote new classic book covers featuring people of colour – a decision that has been criticised by writers and book fans alike for doing nothing to address the publishing industry’s underlying diversity problems.
Announced on Tuesday 4 February, the ‘Diverse Editions’ series – 12 classic young adult novels such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland – was slated to hit bookshelves on Wednesday. On their covers, characters’ appearances are changed. Frankenstein’s iconic green skin is now brown; Carroll’s Alice is now Native American. ‘For the first time ever, all parents will be able to pick up a book and see themselves in a story,’ an explainer reads on each back cover.
The original press release described how the books were chosen: ‘An A.I. program was used to scour the pages of 100 classic literature books that portrayed white characters on the cover — and revealed several books in which the protagonist's race was never specified — only assumed.’
Unsurprisingly, many black authors were shocked and incensed by the decision. ‘What in the Caucasian,’ tweeted Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, her comment quickly receiving thousands of likes (currently 2.3k).
‘Here’s a thought Promote books by authors of color. Just a thought [sic],’ tweeted Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give.
Many others saw the decision as a superficial move made in the name of capitalism. ‘This is essentially literary blackface,’ said The Black Friend author Frederick Joseph. ‘A lot of us Black people also have books releasing and could use some “diversity promotion” [sic].’
‘It also speaks to why there needs to be more inclusion of people of color in making these decisions, [sic],’ he added.
‘Let’s use “Black actors” for the ad Let’s sit the “Black ppl” in the front Let’s get a “Black influencer” to speak Let’s put “Black faces” on the cover Let’s do all things to give the “appearance” of diversity to appeal to Black consumers w/o doing the work to be inclusive [sic],’ commented activist and author Eunique Jones Gibson.
Who Fears Death author Nnedi Okorafor accused Barnes & Noble of appropriating and exploiting black narratives in a bid to appear more diverse.
‘This fake diversity nonsense (where they replace white characters with people of color) is disgusting. It is not sincere or a solution. NEW STORIES BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ABOUT PEOPLE OF COLOR is the solution,’ she tweeted. ‘WE get to tell OUR stories! Stop USING us and GET OUT OF THE WAY!’
In a statement from the company released on Wednesday 5 February, Barnes & Noble acknowledged their mistake, while also clarifying the purpose behind the initiative: ‘We acknowledge the voices who have expressed concerns about the Diverse Editions project at our Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue store and have decided to suspend the initiative. Diverse Editions presented new covers of classic books through a series of limited-edition jackets, designed by artists hailing from different ethnicities and backgrounds. The covers are not a substitute for black voices or writers of color, whose work and voices deserve to be heard. The booksellers who championed this initiative did so convinced it would help drive engagement with these classic titles.’
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first case of a brand failing to recognise Black History Month respectfully. In fact, only last year Adidas was forced to withdraw their all-white design ‘Celebrating Black Culture’ trainers that were accused of not reflecting ‘the spirit or philosophy’ of the annual observance. It is also unlikely to be the last. As noted by Frederick Joseph, mistakes like this will only continue to happen while people of colour are not part of the decision-making process.
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