Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race is an extended discussion about anti-black racism systems of oppression. I would class it as part of a similar network of books, including but not limited to:

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
What sets Reni Eddo-Lodge’s text apart is the context. Most of the books above are from an American and Canadian context; Eddo-Lodge focuses on the British experience of race. It’s a short volume that offers a clear introduction to the experience of anti-black racism.

The book has a discussion of history, systems of oppression, white privilege, feminism, race, and class. The discussion of history was pretty illuminating and even more engaging were the specific examples of how laws had been designed to target Black folk in the UK. It was as disheartening as it was predictable that Britain’s playbook runs so parallel to that of the U.S. and how simply being Black in the street became a crime. 

Eddo-Lodge is not nearly as confrontational as the title may suggest. The personal touches she offers throughout the book strike a good balance with the objective-factual accounts. Hearing about the ire her writing ignited from white people was also, unfortunately, not surprising, but effectively narrated. It picks up on the same kinds of conversations from Ijeoma Oluo, Mikki Kendall, and Robin Diangelo’s work, where being called a racist somehow becomes more offensive than actually being racist.

I’m not doing the book justice; I have to admit I’ve been behind in my reviews and my notes on this one are pretty minimal. I think overall the book suffers from being ‘late to the party’---or at least my party. Because I’ve read similar books, this one didn’t really grip me as much as I might have expected; its discussion of white privilege didn’t shatter me in the way other books have, but if you’re getting started in your research, Eddo-Lodge is an uncommonly inviting, accessible experience.

Happy reading!