I think this is pretty much what's happening. American media - commissioning editors, agents, and publishers - are following trends, rather than leading trends. This explains how authors like the woke stumbler are mainstreamed, while the actual literary artists whose hearts are full of principle, whose message is truth, equity, justice "just aren't a fit."

We need to acknowledge a point of relative privilege, however. Preposterous as it is, American news and magazine editors and book publishers, mostly white, are much more likely to accept your pitches over mine, even on something as layered and epigenetic as Black life, because the social program teaches that whiteness is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and authoritative in all matters. Imagine being chosen last to tell your own story.

Also, it's important to remember, as long as writers share messages that go against the grain, editorial gatekeepers have job security and industry blacklists will be regularly updated. (I suppose this is part of the appeal to self-publication.)

That said, validations or not, we're gonna keep doing what we do, because ...we must. We couldn't stop if we tried. Plus, we're good at it.