A Letter to Writers

NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

Dear writer,

I know how things are going around this world, and here in the United States, and so I've decided to pen a letter to writers. Things, if you haven't noticed, aren’t going well. All I can say, as a writer who believes that writing, in particular fiction, is worthy of your attention, is that now is the time to write. Every few decades, something comes along that triggers the impact that you can make through fiction. We’ve seen it in the past with novels like Orwell’s 1984. We’ve seen it with Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here. With the Handmaid’s Tale, A Small Revolution, The Tortilla Curtain, Fahrenheit 451, All the King’s Men, Lord of the Flies, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Brave New World, Strumpet City, and hundreds if not thousands of other fictive narratives. You don’t have to write protest novels, or make your feelings known through your fiction. I can’t. Like my compulsion to write fiction, in particular novels, I have a compulsion for politics and injustice, and it’s just as strong. I hope you feel the same way, but obviously that’s just my hope; you’re free to write about what you want to write about. At least for now.

FIGHT INJUSTICE. FIGHT RACISM. FIGHT AUTHORITARIANISM. FIGHT THE OPPRESSORS.

We live in a time when some of the greatest books every written have been “banned.” It’s a direct attack on the First Amendment under the guise of “protecting children.” Of course, this comes down from the top, and the top is a man who has had to pay a woman for having raped her. It comes from a man who calls his victims liars. A man who has created a country where if you’re not white and republican, you’re the enemy, and so he’s terrorizing anyone brown-skinned, or from other countries or just different. That isn’t okay. You don’t have to be militant to be effective. Your words are swords, and those words can slay dragons. It may take time, but I believe in the power of words, and fighting back against tyranny, however and whenever it takes place. That’s just me. You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. But I think you should write and write often. And I think you should let the world know how you feel.

For me, it’s past time every artist out there does what they can, if not to protect others, than for self-preservation. This administration wants to take your right to express yourself how you see fit. I take that as a direct attack on what I do every single day, and what I’ve been doing my entire writing career, i.e., expressing my thoughts and distaste for injustice. I won’t ever stop doing that. Not until my last breath. My parents fought for equal rights by joining Hispanic organizations that fought for the rights of Hispanics, in particular Puerto Ricans. They did not seek out a cause; the cause was in their face and they responded to it. Recently, I was directly affected, not by racism, as, to be honest, I’m a “white” Puerto Rican, so I’m left alone by the president’s racist policies and thugs. The only thing that’s happened to me is losing some healthcare benefits with the threat that more is to come on that front. But I’ve watched as neighbors of Hispanic heritage be kidnapped. I’ve seen them beaten. I’ve watched them be deported. Law-abiding people, not the criminals this administration lies about. They lie to make you believe that they are doing something good. They are not. They never have been. They are racists with good propaganda. That’s all they are.

The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans. The Chicano Movement, which focused on labor rights, education, and political empowerment, inspired by the African American civil rights movement. Key events and organizations included the founding of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1929, the 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike, the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster desegregation case, and the founding of the United Farm Workers (UFW) by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in 1962. The women's rights movement, often called the feminist movement, aimed to secure equal rights and opportunities for women. It is historically known for the first wave, which focused on suffrage and property rights, and the second wave, which addressed social, cultural, and workplace inequalities in the 1960s and 70s. Modern movements continue to fight for issues like reproductive rights, an end to discrimination, and social and economic equality. In the 1960s, the Asian American Movement addressed issues like racial discrimination, economic inequality, and cultural identity, challenging negative stereotypes and the "model minority" myth. You know what you don’t hear? How white racist had to fight for their rights. You know why? Because they have always been the oppressors, have always been the beneficiaries of oppression. For me, that has got to stop. By any means, but in our cases, through literature.

I’m not telling you what you should write. I’m telling you what I’m going to write about and what I’ve been writing about for decades, much of my work unpublished. I have a long-term view for my writing, because I want to get it right. I want it to survive for as long as possible, so that I can contribute in my small and hopefully not too insignificant way. I have had enough. I no longer wish to sit back and watch as good people are targeted by bad people, for yes, I find what’s happening around this country (and world where right-wing extremists and racists and bigots) repulsive. Writing is my first act. That’s all I can say, but more acts will follow. ALL legal, of course. I’m not a religious man, but I pray justice prevails. And I pray that those predators, those men, for they are mostly men, pay for their crimes. I have come to a point where I do not care how they are punished, for they do not care how their victims are treated. In fact, it’s clear that cruelty is part of the formula, and it comes directly from the commander in chief. I don’t capitalize any of their titles, for they do not deserve that respect.

Now is the time to write protest literature, and to highlight, however minor, the things evil people do. And yes, they are evil. You can write about it. You can call out what they do. Others will take a more physical approach. I agree with both. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Cully Perlman is a novelist, a blogger, and, more importantly, an actual patriot, not a fake one.