Freedom of Expression.

Vee discusses this case here:

So this young woman has written a fantasy novel and it involves slavery. According to the regressive left, she is not qualified to do so because she is not black. Because, of course, in their nasty, twisted narrative, only black people have ever been enslaved. Oh, really? For around three hundred years, Barbary pirates raided the northern Mediterranean coast and the southern coast of the British Isles, taking people to be sold in the African slave markets. But we don’t count this because reasons.

So, apparently, this novel is racist and involves cultural appropriation.

After Delacorte sent out early review copies of the novel, the initial reviews were positive. The book has nearly a four and half star rating on Goodreads. But starting in January, some readers began denouncing the story as racist for its depiction on slavery, and a social media campaign was launched.

“How is nobody mentioning the anti-blackness and blatant bigotry in this book?” one reader wrote on Goodreads. “This book is about slavery, a false oppression narrative that equates having legitimately dangerous magical powers that kill people with being an oppressed minority, like a person of color. This whole story is absolutely repulsive.”

Zhao was also accused of engaging in racial stereotyping and cultural appropriation in the novel.

Now the appropriate response to this bullshit is to tell them in no uncertain terms which orifice is most suited to their bigotry, but no, because Zhao is herself on the SJW spectrum, she has caved and withdrawn the novel. In so doing, not only has she trashed her own writing career, but has also made it more difficult for other writers who will find themselves facing an emboldened mob who think that they can intimidate novelists into self-censorship.

My novels and short stories cross a spectrum of genres. One character is half native-American. I have never been to America, let alone the old west. I am not a native American. Consequently, I am not qualified to write about it, according to the SJW crowd. To which I say “go fuck yourselves” I will write about whatever I want to write. Likewise, I have written a novel from a female viewpoint. I am not female. I have written about sci-fi, detectives, ghosts, 18th Century soldiers. I have never experienced any of these things directly – I use my imagination and research. It’s what writers do.

Apparently, Zhao’s novel should have been written by a black person. But a black person didn’t write it. Therefore it must be censored. This is the modern equivalent of book burning. These people are evil. They need to be vigorously resisted. You should never, ever, apologise to these people, for it only emboldens them and encourages them to come back for more.