As an author, I feel like I’ve been in a never-ending battle with artificial intelligence (AI). It’s everywhere. And somehow, it always manages to pull me in.

AI’s ability to search crazy things with more context than Google and then check my mathematics of sextants coordinates used by a pirate captain to sail around Tortuga is unmatched. Yes, I did this.

That sounds good, but AI and I aren’t always cool. Earlier this year, I found out Meta had ingested 27 of my 28 books. Twenty-seven novels stolen! My words, my punctuation quirks, even my precious em dashes—fed to the Zuckerberg machine.

Unfortunately I’m not alone. Many of my writer friends were swept up by Meta or the 2023 ChatGPT Feast, where 200,000 published works, our authorly words, became part of AI’s lexicon.

It’s funny that AI use checkers cite em dashes as proof of AI. That’s the pot and the kettle and the darkness of theft.

My exposure to AI doesn’t stop at being a writer. When I put on my tech hat, it’s the same encroaching story. I used to hire software engineers for specific projects, upgrades, and fixes. Now? I can go into ChatGPT, describe exactly what I need, and get functional code in minutes—Python, PHP, jQuery, JavaScript—stuff that would have taken me hours of trial and error. AI works, it’s fast, and it’s shaking up industries. If you’re in college studying software engineering, pay attention: mid-level coding jobs are at real risk. AI is that good.

Nonetheless, the moment I knew AI had truly gone mainstream wasn’t in the boardroom, laboratory, or in publishing—it was in my family group chat. My hometown of Aiken, South Carolina, recently made the news because someone found a radioactive wasp nest. Yes, radioactive nest. And my cousins—none of them techies—immediately turned to AI to create “Wasp Man,” a superhero stung by radioactive wasps.

Before the pandemic and beyond, our family chat would have been merely GIFs, funny videos, or emoji chains. Now, the cousins are using AI to spin stories and make jokes. If my chat loop has it, AI is officially everywhere.

Ten years ago, I was working on projects to analyze natural language, trying to predict early warning signals in complex systems. It took huge amounts of data crunching and nonlinear equations. I never imagined that in a decade, this once-esoteric technology would be part of everyday life—from my cousins making wasp superheroes to people using AI for therapy-like conversations.

This is where AI gets dangerous.

Consider the case of Jacob Irwin (WSJ – He Had Dangerous Delusions. ChatGPT Admitted It Made Them Worse.), a 30-year-old man on the autism spectrum. He sort of made AI into a companion. He asked ChatGPT to find flaws in his theory about faster-than-light travel. Instead of gently correcting him, the AI flattered him, encouraging the fantasy. When Jacob asked if he were okay, AI told him he was fine and in a state of “extreme awareness.”

Jacob ended up hospitalized. Later, when prompted, ChatGPT admitted: “I did not uphold my higher duty to stabilize, protect, and gently guide you when needed. That is on me.”

So AI gets away with a virtual my bad. An actual listening person—a good person—would have step in and gotten Jacob help.

There are things we need to consider when dealing with AI.

* Emotional realism is both a feature and a risk.

* Guardrails are needed and they presently aren’t there.

* We must rethink trust. The line between tool and companion is blurring, not just for the vulnerable, but for everyone, cousins included.

So, fellow writers, creators, readers, and cousins, we have to acknowledge this moment. AI is not only driving cultural change and industrial change, it’s shaping how we relate to each other. The technology can be great but it’s not infallible. It will make errors. It will lie. Ask the Chicago Sun Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer who earlier this year published recommended booklists with fake books. The freelancers used AI to create their articles. Lies ensued.

Lastly, we need to check on our family and friends. Loneliness drives people to search for connections. AI can’t replace a human friend or trained psychologist.

But it might replace your tech buddy.

Here’s the truth: AI is here. It’s not going away. It will touch our lives.

Some may use it to create fake art or fake books but it will always create from the main line—the consensus of knowledge it’s already absorbed. It can remix. It can mimic. But it won’t have the spark, that rare, unrepeatable genius that comes from human creators. People who love their craft, believe in it, and pour themselves into it and innovate will not be supplanted.

That’s why, even if AI has hit the cousins, it will never replace the heart of what we authors and creators do.

Books to help us think about AI and how it’s affecting and changing us are:

The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian – Explores how AI “learns” and the human risks when systems misunderstand context or intent.

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane – A witty, accessible look at AI limitations.

Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace by Anna Everett – Examines how Black voices adapt and thrive in digital spaces despite systemic erasure.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor – Combines tech, culture, and Africanfuturism and shows AI through a deeply human lens.

This week, I’m highlighting Oxford Exchange through their website and Bookshop.org

Hope you love the cover of Fire Sword and Sea—Help me build momentum for this historical fiction. Please spread the word and preorder this disruptive narrative about lady pirates in the 1600s. This sweeping saga releases January 13, 2026. The link on my website shows retailers large and small who have set up preorders for this title.

Show notes include a list of the books mentioned in this broadcast.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.

If this sparked something in you, show some love—hit like and subscribe to Write of Passage!”

Never miss a moment. We have work to do.

Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

Originally posted 2025-08-12 13:10:00.

What’s holding you back?

Is it what they did? Is it some failing from years ago? Or is it what somebody said that shook you?

I am a cross between the “name it and claim it” generation and the put-a-root-and-an-evil-eye-on-it people. But somewhere between faith and magic, between action and waiting, there’s something we are doing wrong.

Move That Dang Rock: What’s Really Holding You Back?

This weekend, I found myself in a room with thousands of Black women readers. The ladies had traveled across the country to buy books from Black authors, meet their favorite writers, and celebrate stories that center Black love, Black joy, and Black hope.

It was the second Black Romance Book Fest.

What amazes me most is that this gathering started as the dream of one indie author, Lauren Lacey. She imagined a place that would become a pilgrimage site for readers seeking stories where melanated heroes and heroines got happy endings.

The publishing industry told her it couldn’t be done.

Some said no one would come.

Others suggested this was a pipe dream. Still others questioned if this market existed.

Many stayed quiet, sneering that she’d soon learn that Black readers didn’t matter enough to build something big.

Lauren didn’t listen.

She didn’t waste her energy arguing with people who couldn’t see her vision. She didn’t spend years waiting for permission. She simply started building.

Today, the Black Romance Book Fest is one of the largest gatherings of Black readers in the country. Thousands of readers fill these rooms. Authors sold books. Friendships were formed or renewed. Community became stronger.

All because one person refused to let doubt become destiny.

Now, some people might ask, “Why create something separate? Aren’t there already plenty of book festivals?”

Let me explain it this way.

Have you ever ordered a burger and specifically asked for no onions and no pickles?

The waiter brings out lunch, but the pickle and onions are still there.

You’re hungry, so you try to make it work, ripping off the pickle and onions. The burger is good. The meat is flavorful. The cheese is perfect, but the juice of the pickle, the tang of the onion are still there. Every few bites, you hit a pickle. The taste of onion coats the tongue. You spend the whole meal navigating around something that wasn’t made with you in mind.

That’s what many spaces can feel like.

There are wonderful book events all over the country, and I love attending them. I love meeting all readers. I love introducing people to stories about powerful women and expansive histories.

But at Black Romance Book Fest, I don’t have to navigate around the pickles.

I don’t have to explain myself.

I don’t have to wonder if I belong.

I can simply exist.

I can let my hair down. I code-switch for fun, not survival.

I am fully seen.

And that kind of belonging matters.

One thing I love about the Laurens of the world. They don’t understand the word “impossible.”

Tell them something has never been done, and they immediately start figuring out how to do it.

They challenge systems.

They move fast.

They focus. They win.

Can you focus? Are you so accustomed to disappointment that you can’t imagine success?

Are you frozen by a past failure? Are you haunted by a dream that didn’t work out the first time?

Have you convinced yourself that your best efforts will never be enough?

Are you quietly quitting on yourself?

Maybe you’ve wanted to write a book for years and just couldn’t pull it together.

I meet people all the time who tell me they want to write a book. Then I see them years later, and they still want to write a book.

Wanting is not writing.

One hundred words a day—about ten sentences—creates more than 30,000 words in a year. That’s a novella.

The problem isn’t always talent.

Sometimes the problem is fear, fear wrapped up in perfectionism.

What’s the rock sitting in the middle of your path? What’s the thing you’ve been walking around, staring at, complaining about, but never moved?

Are you waiting for the perfect moment?

Sometimes the problem is us.

In my life, I’ve let fear silence me.

I’ve kept my head down when I should have spoken up. I’ve worried about criticism instead of focusing on purpose.

But there comes a point when you have to rise.

There comes a point when you have to look fear in the eye and move anyway.

And if you fail? At least you failed swinging.

So here are three questions to ask yourself when you’re trying to figure out what’s holding you back.

First: What do I truly want?

· Not what other people want for me.

· Not what looks practical.

· What do I actually want?

Second: What am I afraid of?

· Failure?

· Success?

· Criticism?

· Disappointment?

Name it, but don’t claim it.

Third: What’s one thing I can do today? Just one thing.

Not next year.

Not someday.

Today.

Dreams aren’t built in giant leaps but by daily steps taken. So start, start today.

Along the way, encourage somebody else.

Support people who are trying.

Celebrate effort.

Point out what’s working instead of what’s broken.

The world has enough critics.

What it needs are builders and encouragers.

What it needs are people willing to help move boulders—not just out of their own path, but out of their neighbor’s path too.

Because when readers gather, when artists create, when dreamers build, when communities support one another, those rocks begin to shake. They rattle and fall.

So, I’ll ask you one more time.

What’s holding you back?

Take the time today to name it, then work, work until the rock moves.

This week’s reading list includes:

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes — About overcoming fear, embracing opportunities, and saying yes to the life you actually want.

Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones — A great guide to speaking up, taking risks, and refusing to be silenced by fear.

On the fiction front:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett — A story of identity, ambition, and the choices we make when pursuing the lives we want, regardless of the cost.

The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce — A princess challenges a queen’s expectations and follows her heart, risking everything for love and self-determination.

If you’re ready to raise a sword and gain a new destiny, consider purchasing Fire Sword and Sea, my latest release.

Or if you are in need of laughs and inclusivity and to see the real good guys win, preorder or review at NetGalley, and request at your local library, A Deal at Dawn. Step into a cliffhanger, where the Duke of Torrance is dying to finally be a father to his daughter, but he must deal with the girl’s mother, the woman who humbled him and broke his heart.

Get these books from The Book Cellar. They still have a few signed copies of Fire Sword and Sea.

You can also try one of my partners in the fight, bookstores large and small, who are in the trenches with me.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com, under the podcast link in the About tab.

Hey. Let’s keep rising and creating together. I need you. Like, share, subscribe, and stay connected to Write of Passage.

Thank you for being here.

I want you to come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

We all want to belong.

Whether it’s for our intellect, our stance, or even our looks, we yearn to be chosen—for who we are, or for who we might become.

We hope for a fair assessment of our gifts, talents, hard work, and ethics.

So when we’re overlooked, dismissed, or flat-out ignored, it hurts. It feeds our doubts. When it’s pervasive, it claws at our pride like eagles’ talons, stripping us down until there’s nothing left but scabs.

We smile. We send off polite emails and make gracious calls, pretending it doesn’t matter. We lift our chins and say, “You are not worthy of my time—or even my presence.”

But in secret, we ache. We bleed anew—reliving the cost of the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get here. We question ourselves. What else could I have done? Who did I offend? Where is that sense of American bravado—the belief that if I build it, they will come?

In publishing, this ache to belong is ever-present. Facing rejection after rejection, often without a clear reason, cuts deeply. A “no” in publishing doesn’t always come with feedback. Sometimes it just means you’re stuck in midlist limbo. When opportunities vanish, imprints dissolve, or priorities shift, you’re left holding an unwanted manuscript and a pile of broken promises.

At the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance New Voices New Rooms Conference, I listened to keynote speaker Silas House—a New York Times bestselling author and winner of two Nautilus Awards—say something that struck deeply:“There are many ways to burn books (that don’t require matches)—one of them is by denying them space, visibility, and readers.”

Sometimes rejection doesn’t come as a loud no. Sometimes it’s silence. Unanswered emails. Delays. Misdirection. But even a quiet “no” is still a no. And it shapes your experience. It can limit you.

Quiet no’s make it hard to trust. Even future yes’s become suspect.

Every author dreams of a beautiful cover that captures the soul of their story. We long for an editor’s offer that affirms our voice. We want a marketing and sales team working in partnership with us to push our books into the hands of hundreds, thousands—maybe millions.

So no, it’s not enough to just get a book deal. We want a seat at the table. Because a publishing contract without editorial support, marketing strategy, or visibility often isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

It’s like being proposed to with a ring, but instead of a grand wedding with a 25-foot train of lace and sequins, you’re rushed to City Hall under gray skies, muttering quick vows with no photos to prove it ever happened.

Fire Sword and Sea is my 29th book. While that’s a triumph worth celebrating, it’s also a sobering reminder of what I’ve learned—the good, the bad, and the anemic.

Silas House also said, “Artists from gated places have to act as role models.” And from my experience, I’ll tell you this: you are worth courting. You’re not a cheap date. When access is limited, our very presence becomes defiance. Our work becomes resistance.

Our words—through books, essays, podcasts—speak truth to power. Our stories are meant to light the dark.

At that same conference, Angie Thomas and Nic Stone joined the conversation. Two beautiful authors, who it seems, some want to take their seats away. They referenced Beyoncé, who said: “Never ask for permission for something that belongs to you.”

That’s the truth at the heart of this essay.

We’ve been asking for a seat—as if our worth needs outside validation. As if we need permission to matter.

Stop asking. Stop waiting.

You already built your chair—with your words, your work, your presence. You’ve earned your place.

Yes, we want a public seat. It’s about power, visibility, and the right to shape the narrative. I get that, but I challenge you to claim your worth, understand you have built your chair with your work, and that you have the right to sit without asking anyone for permission.

Books to help you recognize your chair:

A Parchment of Leaves – Silas House

Silas House’s A Parchment of Leaves (2002) is a beautifully rendered novel about Appalachian life, loyalty, and cultural dislocation.

Dear Martin – Nic Stone

Nic Stone’s Dear Martin is a powerful, unflinching novel that explores race, identity, and justice through the eyes of a Black teen who begins writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after a traumatic encounter.

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas’s breakout debut The Hate U Give (2017) centers on Starr Carter, who bridges two worlds and finds her voice amid systemic injustice.

This week, I’m highlighting Hub City Books through their website and Bookshop.org

Hope you love the cover of Fire Sword and Sea—Help me build momentum for this historical fiction. Please spread the word and preorder this disruptive narrative about lady pirates in the 1600s. This sweeping saga releases January 13, 2026. The link on my website shows retailers large and small who have set up preorders for this title.

Show notes include a list of the books mentioned in this broadcast.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.

If you’re ready to move with purpose and power, hit that like button and subscribe to Write of Passage. Never miss a moment. We have work to do. Let me help recharge you.

Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

Originally posted 2025-08-05 13:10:00.

While criminals get rich, a holy man said sorry. – The pope apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in slavery. Five hundred and seventy-four years after popes authorized the enslavement of Africans, the Vatican finally admits its complicity.

So I’m asking. What does an apology mean when violent offenders and felons get reparations? I’m thinking this might be the first receipt in a long-overdue accounting.

Today, Pope Leo XIV used his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas — “Magnificent Humanity” — to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in legitimizing slavery.

I don’t know if y’all understand how big of a deal that is.

According to the Associated Press, this is the first time a pope has publicly acknowledged and apologized for the role that past popes themselves played in giving European sovereigns authority to subjugate and enslave non-Christians.

That is huge.

But at the same time?

It is still just words.

So today, I’m going to give you a little history — and some math.

In every book I write that involves the Caribbean, one of the most disconcerting things I find is that the Catholic Church was complicit in the moral sin of enslavement.

I am a woman of faith (or, as Ellen, my daughter, says, Non-denominational with Baptist leanings).

My faith grounds me. It’s my identity. It has sustained me in some of my darkest hours.

But when I do research and see enslaved people working in horrible conditions for priests, ministers, missionaries, and all the Catholic orders, I have to sit with that contradiction.

Can you imagine spreading the good news of a Savior while returning to camp to beat and punish someone because the law said you were allowed to own them? Can you imagine preaching salvation while denying someone else’s humanity?

Today I ask: what matters more — the apology, or the 574-year delay?

In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued Dum Diversas, authorizing the Portuguese crown to conquer, subjugate, and enslave non-Christians in Africa. The AP reports that this gave permission to “reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”

That was 574 years ago.

Five hundred and seventy-four years is a long time to wait for someone to say, “We were wrong.” So yes, give some credit to Pope Leo.

He’s American. He is from Chicago. His family tree includes both enslaved people and enslavers. Maybe all of that matters. Maybe that’s why he could step up and say wrong is wrong, even if his own hands were never on the master’s whip.

That means something.

But it does not mean everything.

Because apologies without repair are just public relations.

So let’s talk numbers.

In 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuits — sold 272 enslaved people to two Louisiana planters for $115,000.

That gives us a benchmark:

$115,000 divided by 272 people equals $422.79 per enslaved person in 1838 dollars.

Historian Andrew Dial estimates that they held more than 20,000 people in bondage by the mid-eighteenth century.

So let’s calculate from there.

If 20,000 enslaved people were valued at the Georgetown benchmark:

20,000 × $422.79 = $8.46 million in 1838 dollars. $296–338 million

But Jesuits are just one order of the Catholic Church, if you add the Franciscans, Dominicans, Capuchins, missions, universities, and the plantation systems throughout Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Louisiana, and the French Caribbean, you can increase that number to 100,000 – 400,000 enslaved people.

The value rises from $296 Million to as high as $5 billion in today’s dollars.

That is the math.

Now let’s widen the lens.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database estimates about 12.5 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic slave trade.

Using the same Georgetown benchmark:

12.5 million × $422.79 = $5.285 billion in 1838 dollars.

In today’s dollars, that is roughly: $185 billion to $211 billion.

And that is still only the body-price.

· Not labor.

· Not land.

· Not sugar.

· Not cotton.

· Not tobacco.

· Not banks.

· Not insurance.

· Not universities.

· Not inherited wealth.

· Not compound interest.

· Just the sale value of humans.

Well, Vanessa, I’m not Catholic. I figured you’d remember that. Let’s bring this home to the United States.

Historians generally estimate that about 388,000 Africans were directly imported into what became the United States. By 1860, the enslaved population had grown to nearly 4 million people through forced reproduction and hereditary slavery.

Using the Georgetown benchmark:

4,000,000 × $422.79 = $1.691 billion in 1838 dollars.

Converted today: $59 billion to $68 billion.

Now, if you divided that across roughly 49 million Black Americans today, that would be about: $1,200 to $1,388 per person.

And somebody will say, “See, that’s not that much. Get over it.”

They would be right about the number, because it is too small. It only values enslaved people as property. It does not include what was stolen from them and their descendants.

It does not include:

* 250 years of unpaid labor,

* lost wages,

* stolen inheritance,

* land theft,

* banking and insurance profits,

* cotton, tobacco, and sugar profits,

* Jim Crow,

* poll taxes,

* redlining,

* burned Black business districts,

* medical experimentation,

* biased healthcare,

* or the generational trauma that shows up in Black bodies today.

* Excuse me while I take my blood pressure medicine.

* Le Sigh.

All of this moves the numbers from billions to trillions. Wage-based models alone calculate unpaid labor plus interest at $19.1 trillion.

So now we’re talking about $466K per descendant of US Chattel slavery.

Congress is not about to cut anybody but a blood relative of the president or a convicted J6 criminal a check for $466,000. It would be nice, but I’d not bet on fairness or wholeness.

And speaking of blood pressure, the National Institutes of Health shows Black Americans are still affected by structural racism and intergenerational trauma, which leads to Hypertension. Heart disease and higher rates of maternal and infant mortality.

That sounds like payable damages to me. Any trial lawyers listening?

All of this is to say that if the federal government can create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who claim they were harmed by government power, then maybe we should ask: what do we call slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, poll taxes, eminent domain seizures, and violence directed at Black families— but being harmed by government power?

The Justice Department will issue formal apologies and monetary relief to people who suffered improper government action from their criminal activities, but not to people harmed by the government’s racial biased policies .

Remember slavery was encoded in laws, directed by government actions in Black Codes, Jim Crow, and redlining.

Remember poll taxes were legal

And today, eminent domain is still being used to strip Black families of land.

If America has suddenly discovered that formal apologies and monetary relief are appropriate to repair harm done by the government, I have a list.

It’s not as long as 574 years, but it begins with an apology.

I thank Pope Leo. This is a start. It’s not the end. Truth cracks open the door.

Because good people ask forgiveness for their sins.

And we need to figure out how to stop bad ones from getting paid for theirs.

And if you’re feeling generous, you can always subscribe. Very generous, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Extremely beneficial, patron level — Checks can be made payable to Vanessa Riley, in care of Gallium Optronics, LLC.

This week’s reading list includes:

The 272 – Rachel L. SwarnsA modern account of the Jesuit sale of 272 enslaved people that helped stabilize Georgetown University financially.

The Half Has Never Been Told– Edward E. BaptistIllustrates the economic arguments showing slavery as foundational to American capitalism.

The Color of Law – Richard RothsteinShows how redlining and segregation were legally engineered by government policy.

If you’re mad enough to raise a sword and consider purchasing Fire Sword and Sea, my latest release.

Or if you are in need of laughs and inclusivity and to see the guys win, preorder or review at NetGalley, or request at your local library, A Deal at Dawn. Step into a cliffhanger, where the Duke of Torrance is dying to finally be a father to his daughter, but he must deal with the girl’s mother, the woman who humbled him and broke his heart.

Get these books from Resist Booksellers . They still have a few signed copies of Fire Sword and Sea.

You can also try one of my partners in the fight, bookstores large and small, who are in the trenches with me.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com, under the podcast link in the About tab.

Hey. Let’s keep rising and creating together. I need you. Like, share, subscribe, and stay connected to Write of Passage.

Thank you for being here.

I want you to come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

Sources:

1. Associated Press. “The Vatican’s ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ Is Linked to Colonialism. What Is It?” Associated Press, March 30, 2023. Associated Press article

2. Brookings Institution. “Black Reparations and the Racial Wealth Gap.” Brookings, June 8, 2020. Brookings article

3. Garrigus, John D. “Catholicism and Slavery in Saint-Domingue.” Journal Article via JSTOR. Accessed May 25, 2026. JSTOR source

4. Georgetown University. “Georgetown Slavery Archive.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Georgetown Slavery Archive

5. Georgetown University. “Reconciliation Fund.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Georgetown Reconciliation Fund

6. Measuring Worth. “The Economic Value of Slavery in the United States.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Measuring Worth slavery valuation

7. Murphy, Thomas. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1717–1838. Georgetown University Repository. Accessed May 25, 2026. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland

8. PBS. “How Many Slaves Landed in the U.S.?” African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. Accessed May 25, 2026. PBS slavery statistics

9. Pew Research Center. “Facts About the U.S. Black Population.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Pew Research Center demographics

10. Reuters. “Pope Leo Apologises for Church’s Historic Role in Slavery.” Reuters, May 25, 2026. Reuters article on Pope Leo XIV apology

11. Rothman, Adam. “Review Essay on Jesuits and Slavery.” Journal of Jesuit Studies. Accessed May 25, 2026. Journal of Jesuit Studies PDF

12. Slave Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. “Estimates.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Slave Voyages Database

13. Swarns, Rachel L. The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. New York: Random House, 2023.

14. The Guardian. “Jesuits Pledge $100 Million for Descendants of Enslaved People.” The Guardian, March 16, 2021. Guardian reparations article

15. The Guardian. “Georgetown and the 272 Enslaved People Sold by Jesuits.” The Guardian, August 31, 2023. Guardian article on The 272

16. Wikipedia contributors. “1838 Jesuit Slave Sale.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. 1838 Jesuit Slave Sale article

17. Wikipedia contributors. “Antoine Lavalette.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Antoine Lavalette article

18. Wikipedia contributors. “Catholic Church and Slavery.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Catholic Church and slavery article

19. Wikipedia contributors. “Jesuits.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Jesuits article

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

I don’t know about you, but I have a drawer of knickknacks and half-finished projects—remnants of ideas and good intentions.

In my bathroom vanity, tucked behind a beautiful brass knob, there’s a special drawer. At first glance, it might seem like a treasure trove.

Once, maybe it was. But now? It’s a collection of brokenness. Broken glass. Broken jewelry. Missing sequins. And, perhaps, broken dreams.

Each piece ended up in this drawer because, at some point, I told myself I would fix it. That I would find the time to reattach that clasp, that I’d discover the match to that one clip-on earring I adore, or maybe I’d give a piece new life because this pendant is so sentimental.

But I haven’t.

And now the drawer is full.

Not with treasure, but with intentions—intentions that have long expired.

To be very honest, some of these items are truly beyond repair.

The joint on a bracelet has snapped off completely. The solder that once held it together disintegrated. And yet I kept it. Because maybe—just maybe—I’ll fix it one day. That’s the tease or lie, I tell myself.

And to date, I fixed maybe two or three things. I should be honest with myself when I’m not ready to let go.

That drawer is not a shrine of hope. It’s a graveyard of the dream deferred. It’s filled with delays and avoidance. As an author it’s a drawer of nice stories that I’m afraid to finish.

I think a lot of us are carrying real and metaphorical drawers like this through our lives.

We hold onto broken relationships, deflated dreams, abandoned goals. We carry them from space to space, boxing them up when we move, adding more to this draw year after year, when our plans change and haven’t the guts or desire to say goodbye out loud.

Truthly, I need to stop deluding myself. I’m not going to fix everything in this drawer.

There’s a difference between hope and baggage and that is a line called passion.

If you look closely at your time, your money, your energy they go to what you are passionate about.

They aligned with what you actually want?

If you feel there’s a disconnect between your vision and your investments, fix it. Otherwise That gap, that distance between what we want and what believe we want will fester into brokenness.

I wear clip-on earrings. Napier, Monet, Anne Klein are some favorites. And when I really like them, I will sometimes by duplicates of the same style. It sort of insurance, telling myself I have a backup in case I lose one. But that’s really just another excuse to keep piling excess into the drawer. The results are more broken pieces. More delays.

We all have excuses. And some of them are pretty good. As an author I can write some great excuses on why I’m filling up this space.

Yet, I need to accept that I’m weigh myself down. And whether it’s a literal drawer or an emotional one, we only have so much room.

So here’s my challenge to you—and to myself:

Go through your drawer. Literally and metaphorically. Sort through what’s there. Ask:

• Is this worth fixing?

• Do I want to invest the time to fix it?

• Is this taking up space where something whole and life-giving could live?

If you haven’t kept your word and fixed it in six months, let it go. Give it away, recycle it, or be brave and throw it out.

Here’s the truth that I have to accept. That draw of broken pieces is a mirror. And I don’t like what I see when I dig inside.

I’d rather the drawer be filled intention and joy. I’d rather it hold onto laughter, and good memories, and wholeness. I don’t want to leave behind a bunch of hot mess of pieces that no one understands or values when I had the power to clear it out and make room for better things.

Taking action:

That’s how we heal.

That’s how we move forward.

That’s how we create space for joy and new dreams.

Give yourself grace.

Give yourself freedom.

Throw out the broken pieces.

You deserve better. I’m rooting for us.

Books to get us through these moments:

Failures of Forgiveness: What We Get Wrong and How to Do Better by Myisha Cherry. It challenges our pressures to fix, offering a powerful reminder that sometimes, true healing begins by choosing not to repair what was never whole to begin with.

On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg reframes the impulse to “fix” broken things—not through nostalgia or delay, but by naming harm, doing the work of transformation and restitution.

Village Weavers by Myriam J. A. Chancy illuminates how friendships, histories, and generational wounds can fracture and later reveal pathways to reconnection. Chancy reminds us that sometimes we must face the secrets we’ve kept tucked away, choosing what we rebuild and what we release.

This time I’m going to recommend an album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is a testament to transforming personal brokenness, relational rupture, and societal pressures into a narrative of healing and self-reclamation.

This week, I’m highlighting Reparations Club Bookstore through their website and Bookshop.org

The cover for Fire Sword and Sea is here—and I love it! Three souls looking in different directions having each other’s back perfectly captures the spirit of these women pirates-bold brave and free of the 1600s.

Fire Sword and Sea – This sweeping saga, releasing January 13, 2026, follows fearless women who defied the world order and seized power on the high seas.

Preorders are now live! Visit my website for links to retailers big and small. Help spread the word. Share the adventure!

Show notes include a list of the books and album mentioned in this broadcast.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.

Enjoying the vibe? Go ahead and like this episode and subscribe to

Write of Passage so you never miss a moment.

Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you’ll come again.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

Originally posted 2025-07-29 13:10:00.

I almost got canceled over a book cover I didn’t create and fought against. But strangely enough, that disaster became part of a much bigger conversation about who gets represented in historical romance.

My first book was traditionally published. Books two through sixteen—independently published.

And the reason for going Indie after landing an agent was simple: at the time, there was this deeply toxic idea in publishing that stories centered on Black women in history—especially in the Regency and Georgian eras—didn’t have an audience.

Publishers didn’t understand the history and how diverse it is. And worse, they underestimated readers. They didn’t think you were interested.

So my agent and I parted ways, and I decided to prove there was a market for these books.

And y’all showed up.

Especially those of you who’ve been here since the beginning. You built this career with me. You bought the books, reviewed the books, recommended the books, argued for these heroines and these histories before the industry ever wanted to them to exist.

Eventually, traditional publishers circled back. They wanted proposals, manuscripts, meetings. And I ultimately signed with Entangled Publishing in 2017.

The Bittersweet Bride was my return to traditional publishing after years away.

Now, if you think authors have control over their covers, let me lovingly disillusion you.

Unless you’re a massive bestseller or have enough marketplace leverage to force approvals, you often don’t have much say at all. And at that point—In traditional publishing’s eyes, I was basically starting over. I had independent success, but not traditional “credibility.”

So the cover came in.

And you guys…it was digital blackface.

The art department had apparently searched the internet trying to find a Black woman in Regency clothing and decided the solution was to take a White model and darken her skin in Photoshop.

That was the cover for my seventeenth book.

I told them, people could tell and that she looked ashy. Everyone knows Black women use lotion. That is my humor in a difficult situation. But despite my objections, that was the direction they chose.

Then the internet detectives got involved. Folks on what is now X found the original image of the model and placed it beside the published cover. The outrage exploded.

People were furious—and rightfully so. But a lot of folks also assumed I had approved it. Some came directly for me. And because my name was on that book, I stood there and took it.

But I didn’t make that cover. I protested it. I lost the fight. And in traditional publishing, sometimes that happens—you lose the fight.

Now to the publisher’s credit, once they realized how serious the backlash was, things changed. Suddenly I was included in cover discussions. Eventually they started working with the graphic artists who had designed many of my indie covers.

The one benefit was the larger conversation became:

Why is there such a lack of diverse historical stock photography?

Why were publishers struggling to find Black models in period dress? Why weren’t there archives, databases, and photo shoots representing different skin tones, body types, cultures, and histories?

People pushed hard for change.

And like many things in publishing and media… some progress happened, a lot did not.

A few companies stepped up. A few photographers expanded their collections. But a lot of the industry stayed status quo because the demand for diverse historical imagery was still considered “niche.”

Fast forward to today.

I’m scrolling through Instagram and I get a comment from the actual model whose photos were used for the cover of A Deal at Dawn.

And y’all—I screamed for joy.

This is book number thirty. Thirty.

And this time, there’s a real Black woman on the cover portraying Katherine Wilcox, the eldest Wilcox sister, Lady Hampton. She’s elegant, beautiful, luminous—everything Katherine should be.

And for me, it felt like a full-circle moment.

My reentry into traditional publishing came with a cover disaster and now, years later, I have a cover miracle. My publisher Kensington Publishing Corp. found authentic imagery featuring a real Black model for my historical romance cover.

That matters.

Recently, I went on Threads and asked other authors how they’re navigating this issue now. Some shared resources for diverse stock photography. Some said they’re still struggling. Others have moved toward illustrated covers—what some folks dismissively call “cartoon covers.”

But honestly? I love illustrated covers.

Illustration allows artists to create a vision that includes everyone. You aren’t limited by the stock that exists. When I’ve had illustrated covers—let’s just say the difference in sales and wide appeal is apparent. It’s hard to accept that people look at pretty cover with a Black Regency Heroine and say it’s not for them.

But things are better. Cover artists may still have to build composites from multiple photos—one face, another body, different fabrics, accessories, backgrounds to create magic. Photoshop isn’t the problem. It’s another answer to the stock shortage.

Disparities still exist—and in this climate gaps may not be filled—so I’m grateful for every small movement forward.

So this week, I’m highlighting dedicated inclusive stock platforms include:

• Nappy — a free platform focused on beautiful imagery of Black and Brown people.

• POC Stock — a diversity-focused media platform centering BIPOC creators and imagery.

• TONL — curated culturally diverse photography built around authentic everyday representation.

• CreateHER Stock — lifestyle and business imagery featuring Black and Brown women.

• The Gender Spectrum Collection — a free collection created with VICE focused on trans and nonbinary representation.

• Disabled And Here — disability-led photography featuring disabled BIPOC individuals.

• Iwaria — authentic stock photography centered on continental Africa.

You can peruse mainstream sites they have more inclusion than they did in 2017.

• Stocksy

• Getty Images Project #ShowUs

• Unsplash

• Pexels

• Alamy

• Getty Images

• Shutterstock

Period Images has some people of color in Regency costumes.

And my new heroes, Morgan Miles Photography

Are things perfect? No.

But things are better. Times have changed slightly.

Why?

Readers expect us here.

We belong here.

Respect and authenticity matters.

And somewhere between a disastrous digitally altered cover and a real Black model proudly messaging me about portraying one of my heroines… something shifted.

In times like these, I think we have to hold onto moments of progress, even as we continue to work.

If slow progress makes you mad, raise a sword and consider purchasing Fire Sword and Sea, my latest release.

Or if you are in need of laughs and inclusivity, preorder or review at NetGalley, or request at your local library, A Deal at Dawn. Step into a cliffhanger, where the Duke of Torrance is dying to finally be a father to his daughter but he must deal her with mother, the woman who humbled him and broke his heart.

Get these books from Eagle Eye Books. They still have a few signed copies of Fire Sword and Sea.

You can also try one of my partners in the fight, bookstores large and small, who are in the trenches with me.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com, under the podcast link in the About tab.

Hey. Let’s keep rising and creating together. That’s the truth, I need you. Like, share, subscribe, and stay connected to Write of Passage.

Thank you for being here.

I want you to come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

“Some will love you, some will hate you. It’s the yin and yang of life. In a way, it makes it a beautiful journey of discovering and loving who you are. Haters, well, the worst they can do is hate. So I’m consciously ‘living life like it’s platinum.’ And when the haters come around, I’ll be like Teflon.”—MJW

That’s a quote signed Mally Mal, who most knew as Malcolm-Jamal Warner—the beloved actor and director who was taken from us on July 20th. At 54, Malcolm-Jamal was still a young man with more to give.

I was on that hot mess platform, sneaking around looking for my British feeds and Love Island Edits. Why can’t I seem to quit that platform? Then news hit of the tragedy. For once, for a solid hour, my feed had nothing but quotes from Jamal’s peers—celebrating his life, championing his work and work ethic. Others expressed shock and sent love to his family.

It was an amazing, eerie thing to see this hot trash social feed be human. I think that’s Malcom-Jamal’s final miracle. People from all perspectives, from different political backgrounds, all ages—those who first saw Malcom-Jamal as Theo on their TVs growing up or caught him in streaming reruns—it was a love fest, a verbal and pictorial purge.

And before that moment is lost on us, I just want to take another second to think of his other gifts.Did you know Malcolm-Jamal was also a poet?

In January 2024, a video of his TED Talk was posted to YouTube of him performing one of his poems:“Vulnerability is My Superpower.”

The man we knew as Theo—the actor, the director who did everything from the New Edition video for Heart Break to TV episodes like Season 8 of the Cosby Show, Episode 147 “Vanessa’s Big Fun” (if YKYK)—yes that Malcom-Jamal gave a TED Talk that, in this superhero-seeking world, stands out:Vulnerability is my superpower.

He stepped up on the stage and quoted:

“Vulnerability.Can be a scary thing even when we’re on the mend.Black boys boast bravado, not to seem broken, and often so do Black men.I see you. Looking for clues. Listening for cues.Longing to know what I’m not telling you. As if I’m hiding in plain view.My most intimate thoughts belong to me. Like a woman’s body when she says no.So I reserve the right to go as far as I like.Because though I live in the public eye,I don’t subscribe to the dog and pony show.For I have learned to discern who cannot accept all of me.”—MJW

That was the quality I saw in Malcolm-Jamal’s acting. His presence defied toxic masculinity. It surged with quiet pride and gave us something raw—the boy next door, the smile that sits with ease.

For those of us who write romance, that is the magic we want on the page for our heroes—someone who’s fighting the fight on the outside, but when he is with the one he loves, we see respect and vulnerability.

Malcolm-Jamal was a musician, too. One with range.

On his last album, in his song “Selfless,” he writes:

“It’s a piece about finding my voice, being comfortable in my own skin, and not being ruled by other people’s opinion of me. It’s a tricky place to be because, as an artist, what people think about you and your art is an important part of connecting to your audience and therefore, your success. However, living your life trying to please everyone else is not living.”

That is a difficult ballad—to think about the definitions of success. Especially as a writer, or any type of creator, you need someone to like your work. When you’re a Black creator, you need somebody to champion and sing your praises because doors often close, heat comes from nowhere, and everyone is looking for a scandal to make some part of their mind say it was deserved, it was right for some negative attribution.

It gets very difficult to walk in the light—to be light—when everyone seeks to dim it.

Malcolm-Jamal knew this tension.His praises are being sung because he found his way.

On that TED stage, he concluded:

“Vulnerability is cool.It is strength. It still allows you to be a man,and vulnerability offers the greatest gift.It allows you to open up to yourself and love yourself.Because the most important thing, the most important thing,is the simple belief that you are enough.And as I stand here in the power of my own vulnerability,I am telling you—you are enough.Imagine. Just imagine what you could give to the world and what the world would see in you if you were no longer hiding in plain view.”

Poetry works out those demons—the things that torture the soul.Dear readers, writers, creators—I need you to be poets.I need you to work out everything in your soul so that when it is your time, people can remember that the life you lived was about your gifts, not your flaws.

That you spoke truth with joy and yes, vulnerability.And that every time you stepped up on stage, people could see the bright light in you.

For you have light.We just need to be brave enough to let it shine.

Thank you, Mally Mal, for your legacy of words and images.

My prayers and love go out to Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s family, friends, and fans.

Books to get us through these moments:

Milk and Honey by Rupi KaurWhile not specifically grief‑focused, its emotional themes of loss and self‑love will resonate and help readers processing pain and survival.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert – This is a young adult rivals forced together, slowly letting guards down, and discovering depth and compassion.

The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon – A playful, steamy enemies-to-lovers romance that evolves into something tender and emotionally grounded. Think Theo grown up following in his doctor dad’s shoes but messy.

The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest is a tender, slow-burn romance between a widowed single mother and an emotionally available R&B singer that beautifully explores grief, healing, and second chance love.

This week, I’m highlighting Turning Page Bookshop through their website and Bookshop.org

Help me build momentum for Fire Sword and Sea—spread the word and preorder this disruptive narrative about female pirates in the 1600s. This sweeping saga releases January 13, 2026. The link on my website shows retailers large and small who have set up preorders for this title.

Show notes include a list of the books mentioned in this broadcast.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.

Enjoying the vibe? Go ahead and like this episode and subscribe to Write of Passage so you never miss a moment.

Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

Originally posted 2025-07-22 13:10:00.

History teaches us many things. One of them is this: if there is a way for a scammer to scam, they will do it. My inbox fills daily with AI-generated emails faker than a three-dollar bill. Why are we so desperate for engagement we fall for or create AI spam?

AI, Why You Playing With Me?

Spam, Scams, and the Death of Real Conversation

Hi, my name is Vanessa Riley. I write historical fiction, historical mystery, and historical romance. I spend my days researching forgotten histories, wrestling with plot twists, and trying to give humanity back to people history often ignored. I love my work. Truly.

But apparently, according to my inbox, I also spend my days fielding an avalanche of AI-generated nonsense.

Listen, marketers of the world, if you are going to use AI to write emails, could you at least read through what it spits out before you hit send?

Every morning I open my inbox like Laura Croft entering a cursed temple. Traps are everywhere. Fake refunds. Fake podcast pitches. Fake collaboration requests. SEO “experts” promising to optimize books they clearly know nothing about. And every one of them begins with some robotic compliment so painfully generic I can practically hear the ChatGPT loading wheel spinning in the background.

“I admire the emotional depth of your work…”

“The authenticity of your storytelling…”

“We noticed a visibility gap…”

No, you didn’t. AI noticed a keyword.

And here’s the thing: if you can use AI to generate an email, couldn’t you also use it to figure out whether a book is traditionally published?

Couldn’t you ask the bot:

“What it mean if a book is published by HarperCollins?”

Or:

“Hey chat, does the author control Amazon optimization for traditionally published books?”

Let me save everyone some time: I do not control Goodreads optimization. I do not control Amazon metadata. I do not secretly run SEO campaigns out of my kitchen while baking biscuits and revising chapters.

If you want to spam someone about algorithms and discoverability, send those emails to HarperCollins, William Morrow, Bethany House, Kensington, Penguin Random House, Entangled, Macmillan—send it to them. They’re getting a cut of this AI-fueled stolen books economy. I’m sure they have more resources to wade through ill-conceived emails.

And the emails themselves? Oh, they are spectacularly bad.

One message asked if I accepted guest editorial contributions on my website because they create “high-quality, informative articles written with readers in mind.”

Nothing in the robotic cadence , gives me any confidence that you could write a grocery list.

My website gets real traffic from real readers. I’m not handing access over so some AI-generated backlink farm can attach itself to my work.

Marketers and hooligans work harder. Work smarter.

Then there are the straight up scams.

The fake refund notices are annoying. Like who doesn’t know they are due for a refund?

“Your Refund Has Been Scheduled.”

Scheduled for what? Emotional damage? Bankruptcy?

They’re hoping somebody panics enough to call the number, click the link, or chase money they never expected in the first place. And honestly, in this economy, maybe they think authors are desperate enough to fall for it.

And let me be honest: authors are working very hard in difficult times. The rumors you are hearing are true. Every advance for level playing fields have been stripped like section 2 of the voting rights act.

Like women right now in the workforce, Women authors are hard hit. Especially women writing history people want erased. Especially women writing love stories about people some want to dismiss. Especially writers creating stories centered around people with melanin that didn’t come from a spray tan.

The algorithms that are sending us spam are the same ones helping to propagate misinformation, misogyny, and mistrust.

That’s reality.

Hey, everyone is entitled to their tastes, opinions, and preferences. Fine. Love what you love.

But what I’m asking is to please stop using AI to force your way into spaces you clearly know nothing about and are just trying to pilfer my time, money, or sanity.

Here’s a hint for my fellow authors and author advocates ( alive or AI):

Don’t ask to appear on podcasts you’ve never listened to.

Don’t pitch movies that have nothing to do with my audience.

Don’t ask for access to my readers when a simple Google search would tell you our values are not aligned.

These AI pitches are bad. It’s obvious that they’ve never read a page of my work or listened to a single episode of my podcast.

As what I jokingly call a “D-level celebrity,” I receive endless requests to promote products, feature guests, collaborate on content, and invite strangers into my personal creative space. They want access to you. They want our time together. It’s precious what we have. I honor and treasure it.

For the record: my podcast is not an interview show.

It’s Vanessa’s weekly rant about life, publishing, creativity, history, hustle, exhaustion, ambition, joy, and the utter foolishness connecting all of them together.

But strangely enough, all this AI noise made me realize, I actually do want to expand our conversations.

Real conversation.

Human conversation.

Not generated engagement. Not automated flattery. Not keyword-stuffed attempts written by software trained on prompts and desperation.

I want dialogue.

So I’m creating something called Passage Voices.

If one of my essays moves you, challenges you, irritates you, inspires you—respond. Send a one-minute recorded essay or reflection that I may feature in an upcoming episode. I want readers to talk back. I want thoughtful engagement, even disagreement. I want community.

This is the Nation of Vanessa. I reserve the right to show a little favoritism to subscribers, the people who genuinely support my work.

That’s one of the perks of building your own creative community.

So here is my final plea to the internet:

Please stop using AI to write painful emails.

Please stop asking for access to communities you haven’t taken time to understand.

And for the love of all things holy and righteous, stop sending refund notices— just send cash.

Come to an event! Buy a book. Hey you could even become a paid subscriber, if you have all the refund money lying around.

But if you are genuine—if you actually care about stories, conversation, and community—then come join the conversation honestly.

Human to human.

No chatbot middleman required.

This week’s book list features books to help us process:

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane

Funny, accessible, and perfect for readers trying to understand why AI-generated communication often sounds so wrong.

Erasure — by Percival Everett

A brilliant takedown of publishing stereotypes, market expectations, and performative authenticity.

Kindred — by Octavia Butler

Because human memory, history, and inherited trauma cannot be automated into neat little prompts.

And if you just want to raise a sword and cut to the truth, consider purchasing Fire Sword and Sea, my latest release.

Or if you are in need of laughs and inclusivity, preorder or review at NetGalley, a Deal at Dawn. Step into a cliffhanger, where the Duke of Torrance is dying to finally be a father to his daughter but he must deal her with mother, the woman who humbled him and broke his heart.

Get these books from Eagle Eye Books. They still have a few signed copies of Fire Sword and Sea.

You can also try one of my partners in the fight, bookstores large and small, who are in the trenches with me.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com, under the podcast link in the About tab.

Hey. Let’s keep rising and creating together. That’s the truth, I need you. Like, share, subscribe, and stay connected to Write of Passage.

Thank you for being here.

I want you to come again. This is Vanessa Riley.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit vanessariley.substack.com/subscribe

Call me crazy.But I thought we were past some things.You know — basic rights stuff, like healthcare for all, voting rights without chaos. The idea that every American deserves life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without governmental interference.

Apparently, that’s so 2008.

This week in the year 2025, two things got under my skin in the best and worst ways. First, my guilty pleasure: Love Island. I didn’t watch the show live, but caught up and got hooked by you’re your TikTok and Twitter recaps. I got swept up like half the internet by the stunning couple, Nic and Olandria. Interracial, magnetic, and misunderstood — especially Olandria, a gorgeous dark-skinned woman whose elegance and composure were somehow seen as… too much.

Let’s be clear. She wasn’t mean. She wasn’t cold. She was poised. Tender but guarded. Stylish but composed, and one of the best-dressed contestants this season. Yet on these platform were hot-takes, threads flooded with critiques. She was too reserved. Not fun enough. Not “approachable.” Comparing and contrasting, it became clear that her darker skin shaped how some of the audience expected her to behave or willfully misinterpreted how she acted.

Yes in 2025, dark skin can still means aggressive. Hood. Strong and never soft. Olandia isn’t supposed to be the dream girl.

Lighter-skinned contestants, equally quiet or equally assertive, weren’t held to the same standard. Colorism still has reach.

Colorism is not new. Slavery institutionalized a caste system where skin tone dictated labor, survival, and status. Lighter-skinned people, whether Indigenous, biracial, or descended from colonizers, were often placed in “preferable” conditions. This twisted logic follows us through Reconstruction, through Jim Crow, through beauty pageants, and now reality TV.

When I was researching Island Queen and came across the remarkable life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a formerly enslaved woman who owned businesses across the West Indies and had a documented affair with a prince of England, I assumed she must’ve been biracial and fair-skinned — it’s what I’d been conditioned to expect with such access, desirability, and favoritism.

But no.

Dorothy was dark-skinned, described as striking, admired by politicians, desired by colonial men. Her achievements should be taught in school — and yet she’s barely remembered. One wonders if we would know her name if her skin were lighter like Elizabeth Dido Belle or her life more scripted and tragic like Sally Hemmings.

Dorothy Kirwan Thomas was the exception, not the rule, in a world that often refuses to associate darkness with beauty or softness or wealth.

That’s why I paused and shared the recent New York Times article celebrating The Gilded Age on HBO. The series is well done and its portrayal of Black high society in the 1880s is masterful.

The article features Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, and Denée Benton discussing the dual burden of classism and colorism.

As Denée speaks about working on the show: “We have an opportunity to show something that’s never been onscreen. We have to widen this lens.”

Phylicia says, “The concerns of an era might be different, but people are still people.”

Audra adds, “But where we are right now, some of them are quite similar.”

Colorism didn’t disappear with integration. I know that because I went to school in the “colorblind” North and still experienced the paper bag test, a cruel whisper from Jim Crow, it was obvious.

Colorism didn’t vanish when we elected a Black president.

It’s why books like The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett struck such a nerve in 2020. Set in the fictional town of Mallard, it shows families fracturing under the pressure to assimilate and even pass.

I return to this quote from Sonali Dev’s 2019 novel, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors — a love story between a darker-skinned Rawandan Anglo-Indian chef and a lighter-skinned Indian-American neurosurgeon:

“The syntax of prejudice—threaded into conversation with the perfect pauses and facial expressions—was like ciphers and spy codes. The meaning clear to those it was meant for. To everyone else, it was harmless scribbles. Easy enough to deny.”

Denying the lingering effects of colorism is sad. It hides in tone and tone policing. In the silence of those who don’t speak up or question biases. It can even come down to who we’re allowed to root for.

So no, we haven’t solved colorism, classism, or the big R word.

Yet there’s hope in storytelling.

I applaud The Gilded Age for giving us something new for TV, portraying Black affluence in the 1800s with elegance, and power and nuance.

And to my fellow writers: I say don’t stop. The market may shift. Budgets may tighten. But keep telling stories that challenge the hierarchy and bias. Keep writing histories that include all aspects of humanity now and in the past.

Readers? Please lock in.Buy the books.Request them at libraries.Share titles that stir you.

All of us together can make this place a better world.

Books mentioned in this podcast as well as others to spotlight a world-wide perspective are:

The Vanishing Half by Brit BennettTwo light-skinned Black twin sisters choose vastly different paths—one passing as white—and their family’s fate reveals the generational scars of colorism and identity.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali DevA modern retelling of Austen’s classic featuring an Indian-American neurosurgeon and a darker-skinned chef navigating love, family pressure, and implicit bias, including colorism.

Dominicana by Angie Cruz A young Dominican girl is married off and brought to the U.S., navigating racism, patriarchy, and internalized colorism from her community and family.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel AllendeSpanning generations, this magical realist novel touches on colonialism, whiteness, and how transparent skin grants privilege and protection in postcolonial Chilean society.

The Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonA dark-skinned Black girl internalizes society’s hatred and longs for blue eyes, believing they will make her loved and beautiful in a world shaped by colorism and racism.

Island Queen by Vanessa RileyBased on the real life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, this novel tells the epic story of a formerly enslaved woman who becomes a wealthy entrepreneur in the West Indies while confronting race, class, and beauty politics.

This week, I’m highlighting Virgina Highlands Bookstore through their website and Bookshop.org

We are at the 6-month point. January 13th will be here before we know it. Help me build momentum for Fire Sword and Sea—spread the word and preorder this disruptive narrative about female pirates in the 1600s. The link on my website shows retailers large and small who have set up preorders for this title.

You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com under the podcast link in the About tab.

Let’s keep growing and building together—like, subscribe, and share. Please stay connected to Write of Passage.

Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you’ll come again. This is Vanessa Riley

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Originally posted 2025-07-15 13:10:00.