A romance writing group gave an award to a book criticized for romanticizing the killing of Native people. Then it took it back

Harmeet Kaur, CNN

A new controversy has rocked the Romance Writers of America — barely a year after a course correction that followed a major scandal over racism and exclusion.

In the past year, the leading industry trade group rebranded its annual awards in honor of founder Vivian Stephens, a Black woman who championed romance writers of color. It vowed to put diversity and inclusion efforts front and center, and announced leadership changes.

Then last week, it awarded a top prize to a book criticized for romanticizing the killing of Native Americans — a move it has since walked back.

“At Love’s Command,” a novel by Christian author Karen Witemeyer, originally won the VIVIAN award for romance with religious or spiritual elements. The book opens with its hero taking part in the Wounded Knee Massacre, which saw an estimated 300 Lakota people — many of them women and children — killed at the hands of the US military forces.

Captain Matthew Hanger, the book’s protagonist, is introduced to the reader at the scene of the massacre. Weary of war after “thirteen years of Indian fighting,” the character suggests his participation can be linked to the moment he “found his parents and baby sister murdered by a Comache war party.” In his narration, he implies that a chanting Lakota medicine man is “stirring up defiance” among other warriors. Though the main character acknowledges that he has participated in a massacre by the prologue’s end, it doesn’t shake the implication that the Lakota people were somewhat responsible for the horrific violence that transpired.

“As a Taino, I’m not at all surprised that a book has romanticized genocide,” romance author Mimi Milan tweeted. “However, I am VERY disappointed to see it won an award.”

Other writers in the industry also responded with anger and disappointment.

The Romance Writers of America reacted swiftly to the backlash, holding an emergency board meeting and announcing days later that it was rescinding the award.

“RWA is in full support of First Amendment rights; however, as an organization that continually strives to improve our support of marginalized authors, we cannot in good conscience uphold the decision of the judges in voting to celebrate a book that depicts the inhumane treatment of indigenous people and romanticizes real world tragedies that still affect people to this day,” the organization said in a statement this week.

But for many, it was too little too late. The real issue was that a book like “At Love’s Command” was even a finalist for one of the industry’s top awards — and that the 13 judges who read and evaluated the book did not recognize how it could be hurtful to Indigenous people.

“All the structural change in the world can’t change the problem of members who could believe this book demonstrates the best of the best in romance,” tweeted author Alyssa Day.

Bethany House, the Christian publishing house that published “At Love’s Command,” said it stood by Witemeyer and her work, though it was “saddened by the offense caused by the novel.”

“It was neither the author’s nor publisher’s wish to offend, but rather to recount this history for the tragedy it was,” Bethany House wrote in a statement to CNN. “That it was perpetuated by ordinary people like the characters in Witemeyer’s novel is a sobering aspect of that tragedy.”

However, it pushed back on assertions that the book endorsed the violent actions of its protagonist.

“The death toll, including noncombatant Lakota women and children, sickens him, and he identifies it as the massacre it is and begs God for forgiveness for what he’s done,” the statement continued. “The author makes it clear throughout the book that the protagonist deeply regrets his actions and spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the wrong that he did.”

The upheaval over “At Love’s Command” comes on the heels of a tumultuous two years for the romance writing and publishing industry. The Romance Writers of America was accused of racism, discrimination and a lack of diversity, and authors across the field began questioning their membership in the organization. Top leaders announced their resignations and the group ended up canceling last year’s annual RITA awards (rebranded this year as the VIVIAN awards).

This year’s awards came with “a new judging rubric aimed toward making decisions based on the quality of the work and limiting bias,” a process the Romance Writers of America said resulted in the most diverse class of award finalists in the organization’s history.

Some writers in the industry, however, say more work has to be done.

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