FOR THE BEST by Vanessa Lillie - CrimeReads "There Is No Crime Fiction Without Politics"

CrimeReads | September 16, 2020

“My second thriller started to form because of a photograph that chilled my blood. The now-famous image was of activist Angela Peoples at the Women’s March on Washington. With three white women in their pink knit hats taking selfies behind her, Peoples held a sign that continues to haunt me: ‘Don’t Forget White Women Voted for Trump.’

Even being from a small town in a red state, I struggled with why. The answer I kept coming back to was we (white women) wanted a white man to protect our privilege. For anyone who’s been on the receiving end of a white woman defending a white man behaving badly, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

But the image stayed with me when I sat down to write my second thriller, For the Best. I couldn’t explore another white woman striding into the police station demanding answers or snooping in her neighbor’s bushes for clues. That’s not an insult to thriller writers, in fact, those things actually happened in my debut, Little Voices.

But even in early 2019, it felt like such privilege. There was no way I could ignore how white women were acting in the wake of our election. Or, the privilege in my own life or mistakes I’d made.”

Follow the link above to read Vanessa Lillie’s entire essay!

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