I had known about Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race for a couple of years before actually buying it. Not that back then I had thought that it was not relevant enough to spend my money on it, but - as many other university students - my finances were so tight that I had to wait in order to be able to purchase it without having to cut off on basic necessities. So as soon as I got the chance - and considering that Amazon’s free shipping does not apply unless you spend a certain amount on money - I placed my order and finally got this book in my hands.
What I am not extremely excited about books that are hyped like there is no tomorrow is that usually they tend to disappoint my expectations. It had already happened a good couple of times before, so my biggest question was whether or not this particular piece of work would have ended up in my ‘not that fabulous after all’ list. I am glad to say that this was not the case, at all.
Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race is, as already thousands of people have stated, a masterpiece. There is absolutely no doubt about it. Its reading is not comfortable for someone who does benefit from white privilege and has nothing but a very - very - limited knowledge of what it means not to do it. It cannot be defined an understanding, because as a white woman I will never be able to experience it. And this is basically the whole point of the book.
Being white in Britain - and I would add everywhere in Western societies - is a what is considered normal. Being white is neutral, unproblematic and common. It is presented as the reality of our countries, even to those who cannot and do not experience it. Being non-white is the alterity that is portrayed as necessarily negative and worth of less dignity. And it has enormous consequences on the everyday lives of milions of people.
Through an analysis that starts from the very origins of racism’s history and the display of statistics that irrefutably show how actually white privilege and systemic racism influence the ordinary reality of black people and people of color in general, the author forces the reader to take their pink-coated glasses and come to terms with their way of getting through life. I must admit that this is game-changing. Once you gain the consciousness regarding the inequalities and discriminations that are constantly kept hidden or belittled, the excuse of ignorance is not relevant anymore. It is up to us whether we want to keep us accountable for our own actions and behaviour or decide to be consciuosly racist and go on with our life as if nothing happened. Because in the end this is all it is about.
Systemic racism is critical because it is so entangled into our institutions and systems that we do not see it for what it is. For example, the fact that we do not see many balck people in positions of power or simply in our work environment is not due to the fact that there are not skilled black people who are able to carry out certain jobs. The real reason behind the lack of their presence is the discrimination that is pursed against them, whether is it voluntarily or not. The fact that our history is a racist one, makes it extremely easy for prejudices and stereotypes to climb their way up from a apparently lovely neighbour to an important HR manager. And because of it it makes it also extremely hard - if not impossible - for people who are not white to live their lives without having to face the consequences of a racist view of the world that has not been dealt with properly.
The level of difficulty that black people encounter in their way to success is high, and it starts from the very beginning. Our societies are so full of racist bias that even the birth of a black child can be a risk for their mother. As it has been pointed out in various studies, the prejudice that pictures black women as strong and almost unable to feel pain because of it can cause neglection by medical staff, in all kinds of situations. The same kind of bias apply to young kids at all levels of education, making it almost impossible for young black adults to achieve a school carreer as successful as their white peers. And even when in rare cases it does happen, the world of employment preserves those discriminations with the consequence that high positions of power are almost never occupied by someone whose skin is not white.
The main issue about these kind of dangerous prejudices that have consequences on the everyday life of milions of people is that they are also almost always invisible to those who perpetuate them. Being aware of them and of the way we carry them on is the first necessary step towards a more equal world. Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race does the amazing job of putting us in front of our responsibilities and, in case we do not consider ourselves racist people, it forces us to come to terms with our own bias and our own actions. Going through this book is not a walk in the park, because it forces us to face the reality in which we live. Saying that we are not racist is not enough anymore - and honestly I do not even know whether it has ever been enough. If we want to truly create a more equal world, we must be actively anti-racist. Which means that we need to focus on ourselves first and recognize our own mistakes, whether we committed them consciously or not. We have to recognize our own wrong behaviours and we must do our best to do better. And, most importantly, we must be ready to consciously give up our white privilege and be ready to live up to the consequences of it, which might not be exactly nice.
This book has the enormous credit of opening the eyes of those who were privileged enough to keep them shut. It calls for action and it calls for an immediate action. We must start from the bottom, changing our mentality and the beliefs and mindsets of those around us. Reading this book put us at a crossroad: we can either decide to change things or we can keep up living in the same way we have until today. When the moment comes, I hope we will have made the right choice.
- Why I’m no longer talking to white people and why it’s worth all its hype
