
In all of the time horror literature has existed, no author has the modern pop culture recognition that Howard Philip Lovecraft commands. He has such dominance over modern horror pop culture due to the fact that, despite toiling and dying in pulp magazines, Lovecraft  influenced many horror writers even slightly to the point where Lovecraft's fingerprints can be seen over modern horror fiction. From literature to the silver screen, Lovecraft's influence casts a wide shadow. What is slightly less known about Lovecraft however, is that he is equally a master of horror as he is at being a master racist. Yes, Lovecraft is no stranger to racist remarks in his works and even racist themes are included in his writing. This of course has significantly tarnished Lovecraft's reputation in the eyes of the modern readership. Despite this tarnishing of reputations however, his racist reputation is not a strong enough force to deter modern horror writers and many continue to be inspired by Lovecraft. That, of course, remains problematic as Lovecraft's racism has not changed over time. It is the same today as it was in 1937 when Lovecraft died and is even more divisive today as our society is more aware of the effects of racism and less tolerant of racist viewpoints. The racist themes in Lovecraft can equally inspire his readers as much as the horror elements contained in his writings. That is why the modern readers of Lovecraft must actively reject the racism in his works.

Lovecraft is widely regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the modern genre. Despite the ever increasing years whittling away the number of works Lovecraft is known for, he has still has an impressive influence on modern horror writing. Lovecraft was born to a wealthy family in New England in 1829; the family money was mismanaged and he became virtually penniless. In addition to experiencing poverty, Lovecraft lost his mother and father at a young age. As an adult, Lovecraft became a writer and a member of the United Amateur Press Association and became friends with many other writers of the time by either travel or correspondence with them. In his time as a writer Lovecraft ironically preferred not to publish his own works instead opting to ghostwrite throughout most of his career. The works that Lovecraft did publish however did not receive universal acclaim that his works have now. 

Over time, his popularity grew and Lovecraft became one of the most influential horror writers of the early 20th century. A large percentage of the modern horror writers are influenced by Lovecraft. The list of creators inspired by Lovecraft is diverse and includes writers such as Stephen King, directors like Guillermo Del Toro, and even the Welcome To Night Vale creators Joseph Fink and Jeremy Cranor. King when asked about the influences on his writing cited Lovecraft saying  "There are so many! Lord of the Flies (Golding), The Collector (Fowles), The Postman Always Rings Twice (Cain), Blood Meridian (McCarthy), John D. MacDonald (everything), Watchers (Koontz), One on One (King), The Poet (Connelly), H.P. Lovecraft (everything), The Great God Pan (Machen)" (King, 2014).  As King included every work of Lovecraft, he was obviously heavily influenced by Lovecraft. 

Lovecraft's influence on Joseph Fink is obvious enough as there are numerous Lovecraftian elements in the podcast "Welcome to Night Vale". Some of these elements are: all of the wheat and wheat byproducts turning into snakes, a glowing sentient cloud possessing the town's people's minds, angelic figures who legally cannot be acknowledged to exist by anyone, the unimaginably terrifying station management and a massive corporation bent on subjugating the entire town to  their impossibly bright Smiling God. The Station Management in Night Vale is extremely Lovecraftian being described as: "Station management stays inside their office at all times, only communicating with us through sealed envelopes that are spat out from under the door like a sunflower shell through teeth. Then, in order to respond, you just kind of shout at the closed door and hope that management hears. Sometimes you can see movements through the frosted glass, large shapes shifting around, strange tendrils whipping through the air."(Fink, Station Management).

Lovecraft was at his core a xenophobe who wrote very racist works. Even if you were taking into consideration for the time period in which he was writing, his works contained more racist references than normal. Defining racism can be difficult; however Lovecraft definitely can be labeled as racist. One of Lovecraft's most racist statements comes in "Herbert West Reanimator" when describing a black boxer as "  ...  a loathsome, gorilla like thing, with abnormally long arms which I could not help calling fore legs, and a face that conjured up thoughts of unspeakable Congo secrets and tom-tom poundings under a eerie moon". (Lovecraft, 341) Another example of his overt racism is seen in a short story published by Lovecraft in 1924, "Rats in The Walls". In that story, the main protagonist had a  pet cat who was named "Nigger-Man". This name does not add anything to the story, in fact it is just thrown into the end of a sentence. Lovecraft was also an Anti-Semite. Despite hypocritically marrying a Jewish woman, he still spouted the Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that are still trotted out by modern day Neo-Nazis. 

Even if Lovecraft is racist, why does that matter? After all he is dead so he can't do any more harm by endorsing Donald Trump. While it is true that Lovecraft is dead and decomposing, his legacy still lives on and his racism still influences people to this very day. This influence could encourage someone to hold and promote the racist and xenophobic views that Lovecraft espoused. On the other hand, a reader could be influenced by the style of writing and leave the negative portions of his writing alone.

Racism is a created notion between humans which divides us on the basis of heritage and physical appearance. What racism is though, depends mainly upon who you are speaking to. A member of a group such as a "Black Lives Matter" will definitely define racism differently than a Klansman would. According to Lawrence D. Bobo and Cybelle Fox racism as the "basis and mechanisms of hierarchical differentiation that shape the ordering of social relations as well as the allocation of life experiences and life chance". (Bobo, Fox) This means that racism, in simple terms, is bias and inherent social ordering based on skin tone and ethnicity. Lovecraft viewed himself and other white Anglo-Saxons as better than blacks; regarding them as sub-human and less evolved than white Europeans. 

The racism and xenophobia that is central in Lovecraft's works can influence others to harbor racist views. As with anything, racism can spread between people. One of the most impactful vectors for spreading racist views before the internet was invented was print. This is mainly due to print's ability to be spread very quickly after publication especially if the type of print was in tabloids as in the early 1900's pulps.

The racist views of Lovecraft must be combated (rejected and renounced) in the works inspired by Lovecraft and in real life so that people becoming more tolerant of others. 

