it also has the effect of conflating people with privilege, especially race privilege, with writers, a much larger group--because if that's who you mean when you talk about "writers," and those are the other writers you talk about, the unspoken implication--that other writers aren't out there or don't matter--grows and grows.

Yes, this. That bothered me too but I hadn't quite put my finger on why until just now. It's the "who's this WE, you're talking about" kind of feeling. I think it may have escaped me because well, privilege. It sucks. There are a lot of writers who are NOT white at all, who do not come from a place of privilege and I don't like that this argument erases them or fails to acknowledge that they experience the reverse problem, only in a far more real and depressing way.

A lot of marginalized writers who want to talk about their OWN cultures are shut down, waved off, told to go away. They're not published, they're dogpiled under a lot of defensive cluelessness. I think Tan's argument neglects that and neglects that Racefail is part of a larger conversation that is moving us towards examining that and how it can and does need to be changed.

I'm glad you found my post useful. I agree that Deepa D.'s response was just incredible. She is definitely someone I wish more people would really, honestly listen to because she speaks a lot of truth and a lot of sense.