Ripples in the Field

It seems that, lately, when science fiction writers gather, the conversation inevitably turns to race.

One of my fellow writers asked a question last night that I've been thinking about ever since: "Why can't science fiction be about JUST science fiction?"

My answer at the time was two fold. First off, science fiction has almost always been about people (there were some disagreements about that, of course,) but my second point was more personal. That is, that I have always been proud that sc