The Expert Book Smuggler

Best known for her Ravenhood series, Kate Stewart is a romance darling who has amassed a large number of fans through her writing. However, controversy sparked in 2022 when creators began discussing the problematic content within her book Drive. It would soon be discovered that problematic content existed across her body of work with creators citing consistent issues of representation across multiple books.

From the use of the word ‘thug’ to describe Black men, racial slurs, ableist terms, and Hitler jokes- Stewart has amassed a body of work riddled with harmful tropes and stereotypes. Similar to other authors featured in this series, Stewart has also amassed a rabid fanbase ready to defend her.

The Drive Controversy

Drive’s main character is a Mexican-American woman named Stella who rejects the label of Mexican and instead calls herself a Latina. She is written as little more than a caricature of the ‘spicy’ Latina with a rude, impulsive, no-filter personality. Instead of writing a rich and well-rounded character, Stewart insists upon excessive use of the word Latina to TELL us who Stella is. The character of Stella represents the common issue of white authors viewing their racialized characters as little more than their labels. Instead of writing the character as a Mexican-American woman, the author crafted a white character with hips. Quotes include:

“Come on, woman, you’re half Mexican. You were born with rhythm.” “I’m Latina,” I corrected. “And I have rhythm. Shut up.”

A Hispanic girl with long black hair?” “Latina. And every dark girl wants to know what it’s like to be a light girl at some point in their life.”

“Paige, I’m fine,” I said, trying to keep the angry, tequila-filled Latina at bay.

It took all my Latina courage to shoot an apologetic glance at Nate.

Creators also cited the use of racial slurs as well as a La Migra joke at the expense of her undocumented coworkers. Set in Texas, Drive was published in 2017, the same year that Texas Governor Greb Abbott signed a ban on sanctuary cities in Texas. Per the Texas Tribune,

“The final version of the bill included a controversial House amendment that allows police officers to question a person’s immigration status during a detainment — perhaps including traffic stops — as opposed to being limited to a lawful arrest”

It is beyond abhorrent for a white author to utilize such a painful topic as a joke from a character we are supposed to be rooting for. It displays very little consideration for the very real dangers Mexican immigrants face regularly.

Stewart’s Response

Upon discovering the discourse surrounding her book Stewart began blocking creators discussing how harmful the book was to them.  In addition to removing some of these creators from her Facebook group, Stewart began leaving defensive comments explaining away the issues being discussed. Stewart levied the classic ‘Friend Defense’ in which she cited her lifelong friendship with a Mexican woman as the reason she should be able to write this book.

It is important to be clear that your proximity to a harmed community does not absolve you of any wrongdoing. Additionally, it does not grant you the ability to tell their stories thoughtfully and respectfully. Stewart expressed that the La Migra joke was her friend’s joke- it in no way makes it okay. Internalized racism is an issue within the Mexican-American community and one that many of us have intimate knowledge of.

It is not entirely uncommon for members of our community to attempt to bring themselves closer to whiteness through racism toward their people. Growing up, my own mother rejected her Mexican identity in favor of the ‘Hispanic’ label and often used ‘Mexican’ as a slur toward undocumented immigrants. Stewart’s writing outside of her own experience has stripped all nuance from this subject. This is certainly a subject to be explored by someone within the community who can give the topic the respect it deserves.

Stewart’s friend also left comments in defense of Kate in which she cited sex with a man whose last name is Romero as a defense. To be clear- sex with a minority is not equivalent to a permission slip.

Eventually, Stewart issued an apology on Twitter in which she expressed that she would be going through all of her books to make edits. Within this apology, Stewart falls into the trap of believing her intent = impact when we know this is not true. In this attempt, it is clear that Stewart is pandering to her predominantly white fans. This is often the case when white authors face controversy as it enables their fans to excuse their behavior and further attack anyone who criticizes the author.  

An apology in which the author attempts to explain away their actions is not an apology. It is a tactic to garner sympathy and weaponize their fanbase. We have seen this countless times, such as the case of Tillie Cole.

Further Controversy

However, the issue of racism in Stewart’s work does not end with drive. Throughout her body of work, we see consistent issues of racism, ableism, and poor representation that speak volumes about the author.

In her 2017 book, The Brave Line, Stewart crafted a book in which racist stereotypes are used against the Black men in the book including the use of the word ‘thug’. In this book, the male main character is a white cop who uses violence against these same men.

In her 2019 book, The Guy on the Right users cited the following issues:

• A white main character who dresses up as the character Madea and uses a blaccent.
• Ableist terms and attitudes
• A Hitler stache joke and references to ‘unclean’ Jews
• References to ‘political correctness’ which is often used by right-wing conservatives.

In her 2020 book, Flock, Stewart writes the character of Cecilia as the ‘angry Latina’ who was willing to harm the white female main character. It seems that the only Black and brown characters Stewart is willing to write are angry, criminal, or self-hating. Furthermore, Stewart’s decision to edit all of her former work displays to many that she was on some level aware of what she was doing. We also see this through her use of ‘politically incorrect’. As @readswithrachel states, “-it feels like, to me, a shield when she says something clearly inappropriate”

Reviewers have also taken issue with the character of Cecilia being labeled as ‘crazy’ when she expresses boundaries or reasonable emotions. This is a clear pattern in Stewart’s work.

The Edits

Stewart did go through her books to make edits to the contents. For The Brave Line, the audiobook was pulled entirely after the contents were brought to light by @ruthie.narrates.books who referenced the systemic murder of Sylville Smith and the subsequent riots that took place in 2016- one year before the book was published.

The edits to Drive included:

• Stella embraces her heritage while her sister Paige does not.
• The replacement of the La Migra joke with Stella telling off the cooks who were talking about her ‘tight ass’ in Spanish. This replacement is, in my opinion, less than satisfactory as brown men are once again stereotyped.
• The removal of constant ‘Latina’ references that display the only way Stewart knows how to write a Mexican woman is by making her angry and rude… with hips, of course.

I would also like to note the HEAVY use of the word ‘mute’ throughout the edited version of Stewart’s book. Throughout the book it is used eleven times and at one point a character makes a point to say they will introduce another character as mute.

Ultimately, Stewart’s apology and subsequent actions ring hollow as her edits indicate that she is unable to view Black and brown communities as real people. Instead of making the effort to truly apologize and improve, she catered to her white audience who were more than willing to attack the harmed community to defend her honor. We can reference @wellreadnurse‘s use of the SJM effect here.

The SJM Effect: When a white author or celebrity does something problematic to a marginalized community and instead of their fanbase holding them accountable they turn the situation on the marginalized community