My LATEST letter (yes, another) to RWA

Alternative title: RWA, get your head out of your ass & Damon Suede, exit, stage left.

YES, folks…it’s still ongoing.

The president has gone so far as to appoint new board members like he doesn’t have a petition en route for a recall election.

Numerous members & several chapters have started calling for an audit of RWA, as well as Damon Suede’s resignation.

In the words of the amazing John Lewis, it’s time to make some good trouble.

My letter…

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To Ms. Ritter, RWA’S BOD & Mr. Suede

It has become glaringly obvious that despite the obvious unrest and displeasure of numerous members of RWA that the board and the current president plan to continue operating as though nothing major has happened over the past week.
We have had mostly silence from the board and the staff and the president has yet to address the membership directly.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not normal.
Attempting to steam roll forward in blatant disregard of those who have spoken up, and sending out statements like the last one that were worded with veiled but ominous threats toward the membership at large is not normal.
Any true leader worthy of the name, however much they prize their position, would have read the room by now and realized that the best path toward healing and the best path forward would be to resign.
The actions of the board which came to be because actions that Damon Suede himself must bear much responsibility, thanks to his little two-step with his secret ethics committee, have left a black eye upon our organization.
The irregularities of forming a secretive ethics committee with the current ethics committee knowing nothing about it, combined with sudden P&P changes made to how ethics committees are formed and when (note, these changes appear to smooth over every back-ass thing you tried to do regarding the Milan complaint), and having a liaison (which isn’t part of the P&P the board keeps tossing at us) who happens to be the man who now finds himself at the center of this mess our organization is in cannot be overlooked.
There is simply no way to come back from this without serious in visual changes in leadership and that doesn’t mean the resignation of those who stepped down in protest.
Last week, you sent out a statement claiming there would be more transparency and there has been nothing but more muddied waters, victim blaming and obfuscation.
All of this makes me feel as if there’s something more going on that RWA’s staff and current presedent do not want coming to light.
Therefore, as a member of RWA, I call for the following:
) I call for the resignation of Damon Suede.
2) I call for an immediate, full, forensic audit of the Romance Writers of America.

Shiloh Walker