
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
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Narrated by:
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Reni Eddo-Lodge
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By:
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Reni Eddo-Lodge
About this listen
"I couldn't have a conversation with white folks about the details of a problem if they didn't want to recognise that the problem exists. Worse still was the white person who might be willing to entertain the possibility of said racism but still thinks we enter this conversation as equals. We didn't then, and we don't now."
In February 2014, Reni Eddo-Lodge posted an impassioned argument on her blog about her deep-seated frustration with the way discussions of race and racism in Britain were constantly being shut down by those who weren't affected by it. She gave the post the title 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race'. Her sharp, fiercely intelligent words hit a nerve, and the post went viral, spawning a huge number of comments from people desperate to speak up about their own similar experiences.
Galvanised by this response, Eddo-Lodge decided to dive into the source of these feelings, this clear hunger for an open discussion. The result is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today, covering issues from eradicated black history to white privilege, the fallacy of 'meritocracy' to whitewashing feminism, and the inextricable link between class and race. Full of passionate, personal and keenly felt argument, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is a wake-up call to a nation in denial about the structural and institutional racism occurring in our homes.
©2017 Bloomsbury (P)2017 Audible, LtdAudible Sessions with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Meet the author of Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About RaceA difficult read for an older white woman
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start here for anti racist education
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For everyone who thinks race doesn't affect them
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Dear White People
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A must listen
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For a white woman, a difficult pill to swallow
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You said everything I feel and have felt since I was a little girl right up to a woman in her 40s.
In the 70s as a 3, 4, 5 year old I felt my job was to do my best to fit in to a society who would only accept me by being good meaning I didn’t complain or ask questions. I should stay small and unimportant and be grateful
Fantastic book.
Brilliant well articulated fact unapologetic
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A book that needed to be written!
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Things got a bit weird in the middle. In one interview a mixed race adult claims her white mother didn't do enough while raising her as she should have provided Jamaican food and such to help her understand where she came from. This seems like madness to me, surely you're your own person after all? I don't give a toss if my ancestor liked lettuce or limes, nor if they liked rock or classical.
This might be a non-black thing but the idea of embracing my heritage seems kind of pathetic. I'd rather like things because I like them, have hobbies that I enjoy rather than trying to emulate my sperm and womb donors of the last few hundred years. I didn't understand this perspective at all, but then some people like "Who Do You Think You Are?" while I find it unspeakably dull so to each your own.
There was then a very interesting bit about white people confronting the burden of racism. Which unfortunately didn't quite overshadow the repeated use of the word "designed" in reference to racism as if one day a cabal of whites sat down and said "Let's make society worse for non-whites!" I think racism comes about because people have always been uncomfortable with people that look different (i.e. freak shows of old with dwarves or bearded ladies) but I think saying "designed" attributes a cunning malice to unfortunate happenstance.
I've never heard of the term "fear of a black planet" before but it is a fantastic term for some of the feelings depicted in the book and that I've seen in the real world! I liked the Schrodingers Cat rebuttal as well. Although quoting Daily Mail readers in a book about racism felt a bit like shooting fish in a barrel I would recommend this portion quite a bit.
Then chapter 5 was very odd. Apparently feminism isn't about gender equality, it is about helping all the oppressed: Disabled/Trans/Non-binary/Black/Working Class etc. It should demand a universal basic income/affordable housing etc. I think the author wishes feminism was some overarching mantle for every social justice issue when, by description, it is instead about gender equality.
I imagine this book was written over a long stretch because Chapter 6 is completely hypocritical when set against Chapter 4. You can't bemoan "Fear of a Black Planet" and anti-immigration views and then complain about whites moving into Tottenham (where the author was raised), Haringey and other largely black areas and changing the culture and make up of the area.
I actually laughed because I was so surprised by how anti white people moving into her poor black hometown the author was after railing against people for not wanting black people moving into more white areas. The editor should have caught this.
Overall the end of the book (after chapter 4) is really quite bad. The phrase "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race" feels like it gets used in every other sentence of Chapter 7. There are bits about immigration, how bad the rich are, reparations for slavery, feminism, ableism, the evils of capitalism, Corbyn. Honestly, go to a Uni town on Friday night, get a student drunk and ask what's wrong with the world and you'd pretty much get the end of this book.
There is very little in the way of new ideas or innovative ways to tackle systemic racism. Just lists of complaints and a half-hearted call to arms. The author does encourage people to use their anger and "anger leads to the dark side" so that might move some people. :p
I don't know. Very interesting to see things from a black woman's perspective in Britain but not much in the way of ideas or advice. If the author publishes an autobiography then buy that instead rather than this book that doesn't stick to its initial racial focus. Speaking of the author, the book was read by the author and the narration was very good.
Why? 'cause you've got so much else to talk about!
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Well narrated and rightly challenging.
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