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Is it for me?
Does the title seem to suggest a specific target audience? Maybe it does, but there are tidbits for everyone. This may be for you if you are…
- Keen to know why your black friends or colleagues may sigh before answering ‘what do you think about [insert racial issue here] ….’
- Trying to understand why some white friends or colleagues keep saying ‘but [insert black person in a position of “power”] is here so things must be getting better.
- Just interested in a book that pinpoints that ‘ah I knew there was something behind that’ feeling.
Poignant Parts
Calling out hypocrisy
“Some fans fixated on a sentence from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – ‘Hermione’s white face was sticking out from behind a tree’ as hard evidence that any deviation from a white actress was sacrilege.”
It is clear that there is one rule for one group and one group only. Jesus (a historical figure) can clearly be described as a man with a black phenotype: His feet were ‘like fine copper when glowing in a furnace’ [Revelation 3:14] and his hair was like ‘wool’ [Revelation 1:14]. I don’t know about you but this is not what springs to mind.
Dare an author try to expand the portrayal of a CHARACTER and suddenly we have to stick to the book. The hypocrisy is glaring.
Work twice as hard…
“ Data from the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey found….Black people with education up to GCSE level were paid 11 per cent less. Black people with A levels saw 14% less pay and university educated black graduates… 23% less pay than their white peers.”
Upon reading these statistics some might recall the saying ‘you have to work twice as hard’. Growing up you might have suspected it, felt it even but couldn’t quite cement it in fact. You’re climbing the ladder but someone’s yanking the rungs out. Herein lies the bread to the butter. Here is the proof to the pudding. If anyone berates you, hand them the statistics.
The face of structural racism
“It is not just about personal prejudice, but the collective efforts of bias. It is the kind of racism that has the power to drastically change people’s life chances”.
This conjures imagery of a multi-headed mythical creature akin to the Hydra. You challenge one area of racism, another resurfaces. Racism rears its ugly head in many forms, from police brutality to microaggressions in the workplace, to name a few. All comparisons made, Structural Racism is much bigger than a multi-headed creature and by far more insidious.
Final Thoughts
Why I’m No longer Talking To White People About Race provides insights into gentrification, the landscape of race from a British perspective and explores why race discussions are fraught with ‘buts’ in some conversations and ‘deep breaths’ in others. A must-read for all!
Grab your copy here
