Unintentionally racist writing, a quick and minor example

Dear Suzanne Brockmann and J.D. Robb,

Please do not call the eyes of people of Asian descent "exotic." "Exotic" means foreign and unfamiliar, and in your present-day and near-future American settings, people of Asian descent are neither.

Very truly yours,

A reader

For those unfamiliar, Brockmann writes the Troubleshooters romantic suspense series (booklog); Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts) writes the near-future In Death mystery series (booklog). Both are obviously committed to having a diverse cast of characters (particularly Brockmann). I absolutely believe they did not have any racist intent in writing their character descriptions.

And yet Brockmann describes a character in Into the Fire as having "eyes that revealed his part-Vietnamese heritage with their exotically graceful shape," and Robb repeatedly describes a recurring character as having "exotic almond eyes" (to quote the website excerpt of the forthcoming book (PDF)). And every time I see those references, I think to myself, "No, neither I nor my eyes are foreign, thankyouverymuch."

Good intentions are important. But they aren't sufficient.

(Brockmann uses "exotic" about other characters too, ones thoroughly white, at least; I think Robb tends to keep it for foreign things.)

Unintentionally racist small talk, a quick and minor example

This morning, a white person said to me, "Oh, I didn't get to say this earlier, but," and then said something in a foreign language.

I said, "I'm sorry, but I only speak English. What language was that?"

"Chinese," the person said, "for 'Happy New Year.'"

"Ah," I said, shifting SteelyKid against my shoulder. "We're Korean. But thank you for the thought."

— This person was obviously and sincerely trying to be welcoming toward and respectful of different cultures, and had taken the trouble to memorize a phrase in a foreign language. And yet ten seconds of actual thought would have made it clear that China != Asia, or, to put it more bluntly: no, us slanty-eyed types are not all the same.

For extra credit, the person might have recognized that the different languages that lumped together under "Chinese" are mutually unintelligible out loud, and wondered whether a person of Chinese descent, even if she spoke a language in addition to English, was likely to speak whichever language she had memorized. That, I'm not sure of, or of whether someone of Chinese descent who only spoke English would nevertheless recognize, as part of their culture, "Happy New Year" in—what, probably Mandarin, right? So I'll reserve judgment on whether, in this case, using Chinese (sic) instead of English is also unintentionally racist.

Now, there were two things I could have done better in politely educating this well-meaning person. Did you spot them?

"We're Korean." First, I'm not Korean, or even Korean-American. I identify myself as American. I should have said, "of Korean ancestry." Second, SteelyKid is of Korean ancestry, but also of Polish, Irish, and German, and I shouldn't have left those out.

So I'll mentally rehearse a more accurate response to misguided small talk, so it becomes automatic even in the morning (I don't wake up quickly, though I do better than Chad. Poor SteelyKid's got it from both sides.). And if you who are reading this wonder, "What's a polite way to wish someone of apparently-Asian ascentry a Happy New Year?", I will tentatively suggest, "Are you celebrating the Lunar New Year?" and then, if you get an affirmative answer, "Happy New Year, then." However, since I myself do not celebrate this holiday, I am basing this solely on my own feelings of politeness, and welcome any other suggestions that people care to give.

(And yes, I am bemused that I am able to make two posts on this in one day. It's got me on the verge of saying things like "apparently the universe wants me to post on minor examples of unintentional racism!", and I don't actually believe in that kind of thing.)

In other news: ice dams

For at least the second time, ice dams on our roof have caused leaks in the first-floor kitchen (and I suspect the second-floor master bedroom, too).

We have a slate roof, and a roof rake, and obviously these are not sufficient.

Anyone have particular experiences or recommendations to share?