In which we are reliably informed that not providing free goods and services to black people, goods and services for which other people are expected to pay, is nothing less than VIOLENCE. No, seriously.
This thing where *everyone* has to pay is not about making sure that everyone is equal. It’s about gatekeeping. … They make professional editors pay because they know professional editors have the money to do so. If you don’t have the money to go to this very expensive con, you are not in the club. I very much realize that this is not a fan con, because this con has always done its level best to keep fans OUT. And when fans do come, they’re treated like they crashed an exclusive party and are not made to feel welcome.
But beyond that, there is no reason why one should have to PAY to be on the committee. You said yourself that this has been a barrier to you getting BIPOC to work with you on this. That is the point. The WFC board won’t say that outright, but that’s the point. Any time you can’t volunteer at all unless you make a financial investment they are doing so in order to gatekeep.
There is no reason why WFC should not be allowed to have concom members and volunteers who just volunteer. … The first battle needs to be allowing people to volunteer to help without being forced to pay to become members.
I pointed Ginny to this thread about WorldCon in which the author says:
Pay to be a part of this space, where you are not welcome, where our imagination spanning FTL travel, fae, and vampires, cannot imagine of your joyful existence as equals, and then try, try to persuade us that you are worthy of respect.
That’s violence.
I concluded this email by saying:
“What WFC is doing is violence. To members of this community who cannot pay, to members of the community who might be willing to help.
I, for one, am glad to know that I am not a part of a community known for its racist violence. Notice that no matter how much you bend over, how much you dutifully obey, no matter how many hoops you very carefully manage to jump through, it will never be enough.
Your mere existence is violence.