Octavia Butler was not 2nd rate. For her time, she was a star. Maybe she needed some marketing help from Ellison et al and sure, a MacArthur grant never hurts when it comes to supporting a writing career, but I read her when she first published and several of her series over again, a few within the past few years. She could write clearly. She understood that each sentence drives the plot. She drew on people she knew for characters, but they aren’t all black and none are stereotypes of that time. She had some ongoing health issues. Socially, she was withdrawn. Probably gay...I don’t know for sure. But she could write and her science fiction ideas were intriguing.
Goog is evil....but that’s nothing to do with Butler.
I read several of her novels. Some were reasonably well written.
I recall her worst, which she allowed to be published once, and then refused that it ever be published again, because it was so bad.
She seems to have hated western civilization with a passion, and came up with ways to destroy it by super powered characters and extraterrestrial diseases.