Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Reni Eddo-Lodge no longer wants to talk to white people about race because white people always manage to make the conversation about themselves. Isn’t this the original definition of a bore? This would actually be funny if it didn’t have such deadly consequences for people of color everywhere.“Discussing racism is not the same thing as discussing ‘black identity.’ Discussing racism is about discussing white identity. It’s about white anxiety.”Eddo-Lodge is British and this book evolved from an explosive blogpost of the same title that she wrote in 2014 and which is reproduced in full in the Preface to this volume. Contrary to her explicit desire to stop talking to white people about race, she has become a national and international spokesperson and spends most of her time talking to white people about race. Is there a lesson here?Eddo-Lodge divides her commentary on the subject of race into seven chapters, the first of which, “Histories,” details her awakening to the realization that she knew very little about black British history until her second year at university. That moment of awakening, the moment Ta-Nehisi Coates also details in his own book, Between the World and Me, is a thrilling one in the life of an writer/activist. After that moment comes the hard work of study and making connections.“We tell ourselves that good people can’t be racist…We tell ourselves that racism is about moral values, when instead it is about the survival strategy of systemic power.”Chapter 2, “The System,” tries to describe the way racism looks today from the point of view of those discriminated against in Britain, and the excuses made to paper over any actual discussion of the problems. This is where the insistence upon merit and the way the conversation always turns to white anxiety is most apparent. Chapter 3, “What is White Privilege?” surprises us with the assertion that“White privilege is never more pronounced than in our intimate relationships, our close friendships and our families… Race consciousness is not contagious, nor is it inherited. If anything, an increase in mixed-race families and mixed-race children brings those difficult conversations about race and whiteness and privilege close to home (literally) than ever before.”I’d always assumed that mixed race families had the advantages of understanding around issues of race, but Eddo-Lodge tells us that many families are not having the conversations they need to have, difficult and raw though they may be.“It makes sense that interracial couples might not want to burden themselves with the depressing weight of racial history when planning their lives together, but a color-blind approach makes life difficult for children who do not deserve this carelessness.”There is so much in this short book that I have to urge everyone to get their own copy. The insights come fast and furious from this point on. For some white people, Eddo-Lodge asserts, “being accused of racism is far worse than actual racism.” That resonates in today’s America, and could as easily be said about sexism. When addressing feminism and racism in Chapter 5, "The Feminism Question," Eddo-Lodge may present her most eloquent arguments, including a discussion about the need for black feminists to meet separately:that [white gaze] “does so much to silence you...And there's an element of just speaking the truth of what it means to be a black woman in the UK that it would be ridiculous, as a white person, to not read that as implicating you."In direct relationship to the cogency of her arguments, her shortest chapters are the most fluent, insightful, and well-argued. At the end, Eddo-Lodge uses a Terry Pratchett statement as her final chapter heading: "There is No Justice, There is Just Us." In this chapter she reflects our questions right back out at her audience.“White people, you need to talk to other white people about race….white people who recognize racism have an incredibly important part to play. That part can’t be played while wallowing in guilt.”Apropos of this exhortation, a racial justice educator based in Boston, Debby Irving, wrote a book on race primarily for white people, called Waking Up White, detailing her experiences waking up to an unconscious racism. I agree with her that we need to learn to speak this new vocabulary of race if we want to enjoy the benefits of diversity. Eddo-Lodge, despite her exhaustion talking about race with white people, is doing her part.See also the recently lauded Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch on race in Great Britain.

The fact that this book still has to be written is heart breaking as well as bone chilling. I am much older than this woman, born on a different continent, and into a different cultural background. The only thing that links our stories is that we are both black women. And the soul of the story is the same,some of the experiences are exactly the same, and all of the frustration is completely felt and understood. I am overwhelmed by ms. Lodge's ability to put into bold , succinct words concepts that I don't think I ever had the ability to manage. I thank her for that. I spent an hour writing this review because the tears would not stop mainly because of the world my children live in is even more difficult than the one I have inherited. History has shown however, that no matter how slow and convoluted progress is ,hope for a better tomorrow will prevail.

I'm late to the game on this one since it was published in 2017, but honestly, it's never too late to start on your own anti-racism journey. This book is an incredibly insightful look at racism in the UK, with definite comparisons to issues in the US. Eddo-Lodge provides detailed history lessons to show readers the UK's slave trading/colonial past, as well as delving into contemporary racism issues prevalent in British society right up to the book's publishing date.While I appreciate the intent behind other books on (anti-)racism written by white authors, I have come to learn that the teachings of visually racialized people (VRP) are far better than that of white authors. VRP are infinitely better equipped to inform us about their experiences, tell us what they need from us as allies, etc. Plus, these visually racialized authors are the ones who benefit from the purchases, rather than yet another white person making money off the backs of VRP.Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is a perfect tool written by a VRP from which we, and I'm referring to primarily white people like myself here, can and must learn.

This is a really good book sometimes I felt it a little bit repetitive but I got the message. It makes me wonder if I am being a good human being in this society between black and white people. Everyone should read it to see some scenarios when people were racist but for them didn’t seem like that.

This book is timely and important. It does a great job of covering the UK's history of social and structural racism for those unfamiliar with it (being born and raised in the US, I was very unfamiliar with the history Eddo-Lodge covers) and delineating how, where and why structural racism persists in the UK.One of the books' resonant points is that it's time for white people to join in the struggle against structural and social racism. Eddo-Lodge isn't arguing that she's not talking to white people about race anymore because it's ineffectual. Rather (in my interpretation) it's because an anti-racist movement amongst white people needs to develop and maintain velocity on its own. It's important for white people to be allies to people of color and to be supportive, but it's equally important that people of color who experience structural and social racism to not have to solely be the performative solution for this problem. Simple speak: people of color cannot be the sole educators and activists in a struggle against racism, they need support, namely from the group that benefits most largely from structural discrimination.Not talking about race won't solve it. Ignoring that global warming is happening won't solve climate change. It's about directing attention and compassion at these problems, and bringing them out of the shadows and under a really bright light, together.Also, her chapter on white feminism and the steps it must take to accept an intersectional analysis of race and class is amazing. It feels to me like a logical extension of Angela Davis' work in "Women, Race & Class."

Je le conseille à tous. Se lit facilement même en anglais. Le style est abordable, vivant. L’auteur nous transporte dans une conversation. Il faut bcp réfléchir. j’ ai mis bcp de temps à le finir car j’avais besoin de réfléchir sur ses points de vue et d’en débattre avec d’autres. Je le conseille. A mettre dans toutes les bibliothèques

Sehr lesenswertes Buch! Extrem gut recherchiert…Ich bin weiß, meine beiden Töchter sind schwarz, Rassismus ist unser, aber vor allem ihr täglicher AlptraumLänder, in denen ich mich früher wohl und zu Hause fühlte, stellen sich als extrem rassistisch heraus (Italien) - der Rechtsruck international ist schon lange nicht mehr zu übersehen!Es bleibt auch für mich als Österreicherin viel Arbeit bezüglich meines „White Privilege „…helft bitte alle mit diese Welt gerechter zu machen und lest schon mal dieses hervorragende Buch!

un libro excelente

This book should be on the syllabus of every secondary school of every country on the planet. The author, a truly great Briton, is honest, outspoken, intelligent and extremely caring of people, of all people, and unfortunately some might not grasp this.

a summary of what each chapter talks about:- Chapter 1: “Histories.” This chapter talks about slavery and the history of police brutality towards black people in the UK. By far, this is my favourite chapter because it’s an amazing first impression of the book, and i learnt way more in this chapter about slavery than i ever did in my 12 years of school.- Chapter 2: “The System.” This chapter unravels the structure of the system in this country and how corrupt it is. It also teaches you on how the system is put in place to benefit white people; providing many statistics and evidence of this. Definitely a chapter to take a lot of notes on.- Chapter 3: “What Is White Privilege?” This one is pretty self-explanatory. It also talks about white privilege from a mixed-raced person’s POV, talking about their white side of the family, and the identity issues that come with it.- Chapter 4: “Fear Of A Black Planet.” Talks about the lack of representation and presence of black people in television and in the media etc. It implies the fear of black excellence, infamously commemorates white supremacy, and overall alienates black people from equal opportunity in the entertainment industry.- Chapter 5: “The Feminism Question.” This chapter demonstrates the marginalisation of race in the conversation of feminism. It differentiates intersectional feminism from “white feminism.” This chapter talks about the patriarchy as well as just black people’s position in feminism. (this book is also a very essential read if you want to look into feminism. it’s important to acknowledge and decode different types of discrimination before looking into feminism as a whole).- Chapter 6: “Race and Class.” This is also a chapter to make a lot of notes on. It simplifies the subject matter of the struggles of race and class combined. How although all races struggle with social class undoubtedly, your race can determine your trajectory to resources and support. In simple words, how people of authority ignorantly rule out race and immigration status from the correlation of being lower class, compared to their white counterparts.- Chapter 7: There’s No Justice, There’s Just Us.” This chapter left me so speechless, it’s hard to articulate it properly. In a short description, it goes into how as a society, it is our prerogative to dismantle this systemic racism, and how nothing will change if we continue to perpetuate these false stereotypes, as well as all the generational trauma of black people; to the extent of mass deterioration of future generations of black people to come.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This book overall, is a pretty simple book to understand. There may be certain parts that are a bit hard to digest, but i recommend having index flags/sticky tabs and to take notes as you go along!! i hope the review helped :)