I wish to Apologize
On a panel at the 2022 Nebulas, I had the chance to celebrate authors who wrote positive gay characters long before me.
Chip Delany is obviously a major player in that game. Because there are two Samuel Delanys--there's one from Texas--I wanted to make sure people got hold of the right one. So, in my excitement, I got caught in a mental/verbal stumble between "black" and "person of color," and as best I can remember, what came stuttering out was something like "spcolored." I'm not an amazing speaker. I stammer, I freeze up, & I get things wrong. I am sorry that I bungled a modern term while bringing attention to an amazing black creator. Too often, I am called a pioneer, but I'm not--I'm just who some readers heard of first. I wanted to make sure Delany got all the proper credit that he is more than due, and maybe new readers would be inspired to read his work. A note from Chip Delany:
