I’m nearing the end of my lovely yellow Dionne Shawl in Lolabean Yarn Co “Not so Mellow Yellow” yarn. I have finished the knitting, with just weaving in ends and blocking left to do. I didn’t quite make the full 6 vertical repeats, but it should be large enough.
It’s been fun to participate and see what other people are doing. Most of the action around the BIPOCMAL2019 has been on Instagram, and most has been extremely positive, with people showing off their projects (it seems like many people are working more than one!) and others complimenting them. I’ve seen several designers and patterns new to me that I love. Unfortunately, there have been a few nasty comments or posts along the way, often trying to disguise themselves as thoughtful.
One sentiment I’ve seen is that it’s great people recognize that BIPOC* is underrepresented and want to get better representation, but that the BIPOCMAL is a step too far, because “now you want us to make things just because the designer is BIPOC?” and (by implication) isn’t that really it’s own kind of racism?
This is, frankly, an insulting and racist response. The “just because” part of the statement suggests the designs people have selected have no merit beyond the identity of their designer. Nobody picked a design “just because” the designer is BIPOC. They used “BIPOC designer” as a means of narrowing the field of possible patterns, then selected a pattern they liked from the pool. Follow this logic through – if asking individuals to search through patterns by BIPOC designers to picked their next project is wrong, is it wrong for a pattern magazine to select BIPOC designers too? What about models? And we end up right back where we started – lack of representation because any effort to expand representation is “just because.” Nobody is asking that people shun white designers – just that we check out BIPOC designers because there are some pretty fab designs out there by BIPOC which don’t get enough attention.
We all use some sort of sorting and narrowing method to get to the patterns we select. Maybe it’s looking at what other people are making at knit night, or checking out our friends’ favorites on Ravelry, or agreeing to test knit for a friend. Maybe you always start with your current magazine subscriptions, or existing pattern collection.
In none of these cases are we making something “just because” our friends made it, or it’s in the latest publication. We became aware of a pattern, and it was accessible to us due to those factors. But I know that I’m making things I like. And if my sources aren’t inclusive, I’m always making patterns by white/straight/cis-gender/non-marginalized peoples. Even starting with the Ravelry database is going to reflect the biases of people using Ravelry and of publications. Patterns also published in magazines that just hit the shelves will have more people casting on those projects, and will push them up in the ranks. How often do we search through every page of shawls using fingering weight yarn?
So, the BIPOCMAL2019 helps increase visibility of good designs worthy of consideration. Honestly, I’m really not worried about bad designs by BIPOC getting undeserved attention – the good ones aren’t getting the attention they deserve to start with so even the bad are probably getting less attention than bad patterns by white designers.
The other criticism I’ve seen is “so why not a X MAL too?” where X may be “plus sizes” or “LBGTQ+**” or any other important cause***. Why not? If that’s what you feel strongly about – go do it. Find the patterns, put together a list, and start it. This line of reasoning is a total red-herring. It’s the same argument that’s been used to try to pit marginalized people against each other throughout history – we need to finish tackling women’s rights before addressing racism and vice versa. Gay rights would need to wait, and how can we even think about transgender when we haven’t sorted the whole male/female gender roles thing to begin with?
Don’t fall for these arguments. They are, just like the “just because” argument, designed to keep us where we are, arguing about what the first step to take should be instead of walking forward, and nobody, least of all the people at the intersections of marginalized groups, gets any help. It’s telling somebody that they can’t make mittens which are desperately needed, because some other people need hats, and somebody else could really use a scarf more. Meanwhile everybody who needs one of those things is cold and the people without mittens, hats or scarves are freezing to death.
I get that at the individual level, we have to make hard decisions about where our time, energy and money goes. I, me, myself, cannot make all the hats, mittens and scarves we need. But maybe I’ll start a hat while you are working on a scarf. There is a huge difference between “A BIPOCMAL sounds really cool, but I can’t participate this time because I’ve already committed my time to these other issues important to me…” and “hey! that’s a terrible idea because THIS OTHER THING also deserves attention.” At an individual level, we may have to choose between causes but it’s a false equivalency when we apply this same limitation to the collective level. As a society, we can, and must, tackle multiple things at the same time.
Will thinking about who the designer is before you select your next pattern end discrimination and racism? Not by itself, no. But it does help. It helps somebody make a living from their talents despite all the systemic ways our society has tried to deny them that opportunity. It helps start to chip away at that system.
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*BIPOC – Black indigenous people of color
**LBGTQ+ – Lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, plus other sexual orientations and gender fluid identities
***Thankfully, I have not seen a suggestion for a white MAL though this doesn’t mean nobody has said it – we don’t need that anymore than we need a “straight pride parade” or “men’s history month”