Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race after her blog post in 2014 by the same name gained popularity across the board. The original post so clearly articulated the experience of black and brown individuals. Who had felt for so long that any attempt to explain to the white community their own experiences with racism and its origins fell on deaf ears. This echoed my own experience, as long as I can remember, my own reality had been invalidated time and time again by white people. And unless you have experienced this yourself, it is hard to understand the emotional impact that it has. As a mixed race, light skinned individual who is still trying to understand my own identity and place within the race conversation, I admittedly struggled to see where my opinion would fit on a piece when writing about Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race.
Even though my own racial lineage goes through the USA and the Caribbean I have found myself at a lack of knowledge relating to race in the UK, despite living and having most of my schooling here, which only serves to highlight the lack of tuition on this topic in British schools. On a global platform the race struggle is mostly known through the context of the USA, so it is no wonder that when the history has been buried, there is a deep-rooted lack of understanding of how people of colour came to be in this country. And the subtly racist sentiments that permeate our society as a result. In the simplest of terms, people of colour were moved from their homes for manpower and resources. Eddo-Lodge carries on the conversation from her original blogpost with eight essays, beginning most importantly with an introduction to the history of race in the UK: from the beginning of British trading of slaves in 1562, to the targeting of the black and brown community in the late 20th century, to the rise in reported racism surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2016.
I cannot stress how important the divisive topics Eddo-Lodge tackles are, the book itself being a wealth of knowledge without it being dry. Racism is structurally embedded and reinforced in our society, stacked against people of colour and in turn comes an explanation of white privilege. A huge reason black and minority ethnic people have been left exhausted and frustrated when white people do not believe or accept that racism in our society is a reality is because it commands them to acknowledge they have an advantage. She writes ‘The idea of white privilege forces white people who aren’t actively racist to confront their own complicity in its continuing existence.’
And let me be clear, there is a difference between white privilege and the class system!!!
It is white people’s inability to accept that their bodies and features, beauty standards, language, an abundance of role models, their history being taught in school, it is their ease to move through society that causes white privilege to be. And by not accepting it, is where so many people of colour feel a push back and the inherent divide between understanding and disbelief of the truth of our society.
I was only disheartened but not surprised to read the section titled ‘The Feminism Question’. Reni Eddo-Lodge dismantles feminism, that for a long time has seen the same issue of white people defending their spaces. ‘Feminists who insisted they were agitating for a better world for all women didn’t actually give a shit about black people and, by extension, they didn’t give a shit about women of colour.’ Women of colour have been relegated to a position of tolerance in the feminist conversation but would be met with backlash if they were to mention the racial disparity that existed. In discussing intersectionality, the more inclusive way to discuss feminism, we understand differences more. However, for white women to take on board the idea of white privilege would be to acknowledge their own privilege, even as a woman. Which some cannot come to comprehend because they believe that being a woman is the only category of discrimination under the feminism bracket. ‘My blackness was as much a part of me as my womanhood, and I could not separate them.’ Eddo-Lodge describes that any efforts for women of colour to meet outside of their normal feminist circles would cause some controversy, as white women could not see the need. Women of colour need a safe space just as much as anyone to share. When you meet likeminded people, you feel safe to share your experiences, you feel accepted. Honestly, nothing feels better than being listened to.
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race is not a book I necessarily want to give an opinion on because it is a book that should be read regardless. The book was never an attack on white people, and to think that would miss the mark completely. Whether you tend to emotionally disconnect when reading or find yourself in floods of tears and rage, this book serves as an accurate account of the reality that black and brown people face, regardless of your reaction to it. Where many have tried to speak but have been left speechless at the sheer lack of effort to understand or even simply listen, this book serves as a voice of that experience. Reni Eddo-Lodge’s wish is that you use it as a tool.
Please take some time out of your day to read her original blog post to either begin your journey of understanding or to feel the relief knowing that someone has been able to put years of frustration into words.
Words by Eilean MacFadyen-Alvarez & Art by Alicja Turek.
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