Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, pens an essay for Lit Hub pointing out the meagerness of diversity as a meaningful end goal for creative communities. He critiques the repeated use of diversity panels, as they merely benchmark the fact that we have not even managed bring that small goal to fruition and remain heavily reliant on the efforts and labors of writers of color:
The problem with me coming to the table to talk about diversity is the belief that I have some role to play in us accomplishing it, and I don’t. And the fact that I have to return to that table often should be proof that such discussions aren’t achieving what they are supposed to.
