Reni Eddo-Lodge’s ‘controversial’ 2017 book served as what the Observer titles as ‘A wake-up call to a nation in denial.’ I kept this review in mind as I read ‘Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race’ and realised just how applicable it is to the country we live in today.
Being a white person myself, this article has not been written to challenge the book or to find solutions to the multitude of problems it raised and addressed, but instead, to encourage other people to read it and become more aware of the racism, especially structurally and institutionally, that drags Britain down socially and causes unchallenged prejudice on a daily basis. The author says herself that the intention of her writing was never to prompt ‘guilt in white people, or to provoke any kind of epiphany,’ and by reading this statement I understand that there is no way the problem can be resolved without a majority in support of change. Social tensions, in England especially, have been rising and gaining increasing hostility in recent years — education is what is needed to reduce this. It is unlikely that any of us will ever live in a world where racism is unheard of, but with re-education led by the people impacted by it, we can hope for a future that is inclusive and void of hatred. I believe that this book is a perfect example of how urgent it is for re-education to begin.
Covering racism in different contexts, Eddo-Lodge writes multiple chapters in her book which focus on history, systems, white privilege, fear, feminism, and class. It seems that her experience as a journalist has positively impacted the construction of this book. Each chapter has a distinct focal point on its title and explores history, current affairs, and different interpretations of the topic; something which was pleasant to have when reading the book as there was a possibility for the information to be quite monotonous, but the constant comparisons of how, for example, different political parties viewed the link between race and class, kept every sentence educational and interesting — anything but dull. I frequently found myself highlighting or making notes within the pages of things I wanted to look into more as I was taking in information that, prior to this, I had been completely oblivious to. It was a privilege to read a book that was so detailed and well researched, but also so emotionally captivating. Including personal anecdotes and experiences of other people was a brilliant idea for the author as it presented the detrimental effects that racism was and is still having across the UK.
The chapter titled ‘Fear of a Black Planet’ blew me away. I read it multiple times and found it difficult to forget about. Within this chapter, Reni Eddo-Lodge includes a telephone interview that she had with Nick Griffin who is described by Wikipedia as a ‘British politician and white supremacist,’ so you can imagine the nature of this interview. Griffin’s main concern surrounding race was that white Britishness was being ‘erased’ as a result of the country's progress of trying to accommodate difference. He felt it was inevitable that white people would become the minority and that we were at risk of ‘extinction’. It’s laughable to read the words of Griffin. His fear of a black planet stems from no real science. It has been estimated that only 13% of the UK’s population is not white — so where is this fear stemming from? For a man who appears to be the right-wing epitome of the word England, it is embarrassing to see panic and hatred emerge from nothing but vicious preconceptions of people of colour. Addressing individuals like Nick Griffin who are undoubtedly racist is questionable as it gives them an unnecessary platform to spread their prejudices, but also helps to show people the insanity of what some people actually believe. Eddo-Lodge’s decision to include this interview in her book was incredible and shows her to be well-spoken and civil compared to Griffin getting sensitive over an issue that he has no real clue about.
I’m going to keep this article short to encourage you to read the book for yourself — it really is worth it. It’s got me thinking about complicity again (that I wrote about previously) and how important it is to call out racism, or any hate speech for a matter of fact. As a country we need dedicated individuals to lead the way to reform the way race is perceived, and I believe Reni Eddo-Lodge is one of those people.
By Felix Wiseman
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