My Thoughts on “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People” by Reni Eddo - Lodge

It’s hard sometimes to talk about race. I am a 33 year old African American woman, who while privileged in some ways, also knows the limitations put on me because of my race. My race was no choice of my own but my race and my gender combined can be used against me in a way that sometimes no one other than an African American woman might be able to understand. So when I heard about Reni Eddo - Lodge’s “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race” I felt like at this moment in time I needed to read this book. I needed to read the experiences of another woman of color; and one who lives across the pond. Lodge uses this book to address everything from the history of migration and the slave trade to feminism and class. She even discusses entertainment; highlighting the casting of Norma Dumezweni as Hermonie in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
I came to this book expecting to learn that racism wasn’t as bad across the pond as it often seems in the States. However, I walked away believing that it may actually be worse. If you think people are tone deaf here at home you need to read this book. Some of what I read really shocked me. Of course, I understand that these are Lodge’s opinions, her perceptions. But in there is a nugget of the truth and that makes it all the worse. As I read the book I thought about how as a twenty something I internalized my race and I a kindred spirit in Lodge. I felt like I understood why she wanted to just stop talking about race; the logic for me made sense because some of my experiences had been the same. Particularly when it came to feminism.
Lodge addresses the topic of feminism in a very eyes wide open sort of way. She talks about how she feels feminism ignores and sidelines women of color. She talks about how even white feminist can fail to check their privilege and how that can lead to their refusal to understand problems that directly effect women of color. Or how this privilege leads to something even more troublesome; the white feminist belief that all women are on the same level. The latter is one that I feel like I have to explain over and over again in some of my conversations. Unlike Lodge, I do (and she actually still does) talk about race with white people; however, I have stopped talking about feminism with white women. After the 2016 election and the women’s march I decided to only speak about feminist topics in safe spaces. Lodge reminded me in her book that this attitude is not useful. And that my voice is needed the most because silence is desired and expected. Lodges book is a road map to understanding and an example on how and how not to have conversations on controversial topics.

I would recommend “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race” to anyone that feels ready to give up on the conversations that matter. As well as to anyone that needs some fresh perspective. I gave it 5/5 stars on goodreads.

Here are some of the quotes that resonated with me:

Look What Finally Showed Up?

Tomi Adeyemi‘s best selling book finally made it to my front door. I ordered it over two weeks ago, but I am guessing that it just to longer than normal for Book Depostiory to process the order for the book. It is a hot little tome right now! I am super excited to dive into it next weekend ♥️.

Here is some info about the book:
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for an enemy.

You can find out more about the author at :
http://www.tomiadeyemi.com

New Book on the way

Book Despository sent me a 10% code for my wish list; so I went strolling and decided to pick up the one book that would be most important to my current reading lists. “At the end of the street” has been on my To Buy List for over a year. I’ve heard great things about this book and I am so eager to read it.
Especially, because Recy Taylor’s story is included in this book. Ms. Taylor was raped during the Jim Crow era and took on her attackers. The attackers never saw the inside of a court room and Ms. Taylor died earlier this year never having experienced justice. Her is a synopsis of the book:

Rosa Parks was often described as a sweet and reticent elderly woman whose tired feet caused her to defy segregation on Montgomery’s city buses, and whose supposedly solitary, spontaneous act sparked the 1955 bus boycott that gave birth to the civil rights movement. The truth of who Rosa Parks was and what really lay beneath the 1955 boycott is far different from anything previously written.

In this groundbreaking and important book, Danielle McGuire writes about the rape in 1944 of a twenty-four-year-old mother and sharecropper, Recy Taylor, who strolled toward home after an evening of singing and praying at the Rock Hill Holiness Church in Abbeville, Alabama. Seven white men, armed with knives and shotguns, ordered the young woman into their green Chevrolet, raped her, and left her for dead. The president of the local NAACP branch office sent his best investigator and organizer--Rosa Parks--to Abbeville. In taking on this case, Parks launched a movement that exposed a ritualized history of sexual assault against black women and added fire to the growing call for change (amazon.com).

Stand Back....Another Woke Title To Buy!

Synopsis: A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America―and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.

Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin.

Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering in equality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country―and the world―that Black Lives Matter.

When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.

Why I can’t wait to read it:
So often Black narratives never see the light of day; especially books about people like Patrisse. Often their stories are told by others, and usually after they have transended this life. I really can’t wait to pick up this book.

Michelle Obama did what?

The former First Lady announced that her memoir, Becoming Michelle, will be released the coming fall.

Let me tell you I am ecstatic about this. Michelle Obama is a real inspiration for me. I really can not wait to read her reflections on being the first African American First Lady; there are so many things I hope this book will answer. Including but not limited to her feelings on what it felt to
be “the first”. And how race relations effected her and how she continued to stay above the fray.

Her memoir is already set for me to pre-order right after vacation. I can not wait to read it.