Sally Kohn has a new book out called, “The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity,” but a quote in the book is being called into question after the person quoted — businesswoman/writer/podcaster Aminatou Sow — says the conversation Kohn referenced never happened.
This thread is long, but worth it.
(TL;DR: Kohn is accused of making up a quote. She’s apologized and the quote will be “pulled from the digital edition and future print run.” But this question remains: “If she can’t talk to me how am I supposed to believe she talked to those people for her book?”)
Sow starts off with the setup as how she and Kohn first met:
I saw a tweet earlier on the timeline about book publicity and it brought into focus a situation I'm dealing it and because Brooklyn is a small village, a lot of people know about it.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Last summer, I shared a car service back with a white woman I knew very casually. In fact, this car ride is the first time we were ever alone. We were coming back from Schiller's [RIP to the only good thing in the LES]
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
She was writing a book about hate. and I guess…unlearning hate? I certainly remember her talking about it and from following her work from afar for years, I was very aware of the reservations I have about her politics in general
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Here’s the quote where Kohn calls Sow — who, mind you, they just met in a car service — a “friend”:
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, she casually lets it slide that I'm quoted in her book. Oh? Really. I don't remember sitting down for an interview or agreeing to be quoted. Let's look at the quote shall we? pic.twitter.com/wJxcKuaubD
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Details do matter:
Where to even start?
1. she grossly misrepresents our relationship,
2. I would never refer to myself as a writer at this stage of my career,
3. It was a car service and not a cab.
On its face this seems petty, but details matter to me…they should matter to a book writer.— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Kohn allegedly admitted that she did not factcheck the sources in the book:
This quote is explosive and not only do I not remember saying it or Sally asking for my permission to quote me in the car ride, she has admitted to me that she did not go back to factcheck sources in her book. This has been a real education the book editing process. pic.twitter.com/PKekIwe5Wc
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Sow, who is going public now, didn’t get much in the way of help from the book’s publishers:
When I approached the Exec. Editor and Publisher at Algonquin, I was told that Sally is "a first time book author*" in defense of her process. I am a zero time book author but this feels sloppy to me.
*[Thank you NY state one party consent laws]— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
And Kohn is stonewalling:
I asked Sally to see her notes multiple times. She never responded to that query. I am not new to being quoted in books, I media train executives, and tbh if I had said the quote I would own it but I didn't say it.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Worse? It sounds like a pretty crappy book:
The quote itself makes no sense in the context of that particular chapter + the thesis of the book is hanging by a thin thread anyway. Hopefully a book reviewer will dig into that. The book has been getting a lot of good press btw but I haven't read a substantial review yet.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
But all the right people are behind it, which Sow isn’t happy about:
What I really want to have a conversation about is how this sausage gets made because I have concerns. This book has all of the markers of a BIG BOOK: healthy book advance, big name blurbs, launch party at the Guggeinheim, impressive publicity roll out, celebrity endorsements … pic.twitter.com/6kPQs2vJun
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Sow goes on to ask if Kohn’s skin color has anything to do with it:
I'm struggling to imagine a woman of color turning in a book without rigorous editing, fact checking and getting the same treatment.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
And Sow can’t get reporters interested in Kohn’s sloppy reporting:
I've spoken to a few reporters about this and they all agree it's not a good look…but not enough to write about it. Very instructive media moment for me.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
I'm actually not surprised at all that a white woman would put ugly words in my mouth as a setup to an exploration to a problem she has no expertise writing about. Tale as old as time y'all.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
I would have actually been a very good person to schedule an interview with but I am weary of the class of people associated with this book in a glamorous way. Are these the people solving our very real problems?
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
There is a renewed interest in advocacy from the glitterati [see the Vanity Fair Q&A with this author for example] but woof everyone is somewhere on the scale from charlatan to scammer in 2018 and I include myself in that.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
I have actually read the book unlike some of these celebs I see parading around [Jean-Luc Picard! Lance Bass! lol] I have some critiques: anger and hate are 2 very different things that shouldn't be conflated
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Anger can be very productive. It's how we've gotten any civil right in this Babylon land. Oh and I dunno maybe don't tell marginalized people that them hating you has the same consequences are actual nazis.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Again, I am not a book reviewer or a writer [yet!] so that's someone else's job
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Apparently, Kohn was talking behind Sow’s back while all of this was going down:
The real irony here tho is how Sally completely bungled handling this conflict on a interpersonal level. Running around telling the Brooklyn fam what a big, bad village I am instead of picking up the phone and calling me or at least, emailing me. Remember we are "friends" pic.twitter.com/A1xmu4sFwg
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
So, who else did Kohn not talk to in her book?
I am not a warlord, or a terrorist, or a nazi. Just a sister Park Slope neighbor. If she can't talk to me how am I supposed to believe she talked to those people for her book?
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
It is also quite possible that ANGRY BLACK WOMAN is the real villain in all of time and history. I am open to that possibility pic.twitter.com/B8LakRaKjH
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Sow, however, did get Kohn to apologize and make a donation over the error:
Anyway because black women have to fix everything themselves I asked Sally for a public apology and a donation to the Radical Monarchs. The least you can do when you exploit a black woman tbh. pic.twitter.com/5UuGPiZejV
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
I confirmed that the publisher and not Sally gave Radical Monarchs $500. They have also agreed that my name will be removed from the digital edition and further print runs. I had to ask for all of this in writing because I was told at first that nothing could be done about it
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
It has been deeply painful to have to explain to white ladies in the book and media biz why this is fucked up and why I am afraid they don't get it and nothing will change.
Namaste: the bullshit detector in me bows to your divine bullshit— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
And Sow still wants to see Kohn’s notes:
Lastly, I asked Sally to see her notes many times to no avail.
I have every single bit of correspondence from this sordid episode. All Sally has to stand on is her word.— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) April 12, 2018
Good luck with that.
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