Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Warum ich nicht länger mit Weißen über Hautfarbe spreche by Reni Eddo-Lodge

13 reviews

glittery_phoenix's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

This is an incredible, world-view shifting book that should be an essential read for every Brit. 

It conceptualises terms like race, racism, prejudice, colourism, intersectionality and institutional racism..... But it does so in a way that is not only digestible to the reader but creates a tangible mental map of how everything is connected. 

Touching on topics from history- the Atlantic slave trade to individual cases of assault, police brutality and injustice. This helps to explain the bigger picture of how things came to be, but also cultural turning points that had huge influence on the culture of Britian.

As someone from Liverpool I was very aware of our city's dark past with slavery, but the way Reni brings to life this history is brilliantly insightful while still rightfully difficult to learn about. 

I felt privileged to be taken on the journey of the author from her childlike innocence up to the empowering and beautifully eloquent woman she is at the time of writing. 

No review can do this justice, I can only implore you to read it. If it makes you uncomfortable then that is all the more reason to not shift your gaze. This book should be essential reading for every British person and anyone, of any race, who cares about understanding life experiences outside their own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Slavery, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, Death, and Racial slurs

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

An informative and eye-opening book that covers every single base when it comes to racism in Britain, from black history to the many flaws in the system to how racism intersects with feminism. Why are we not taught any of this at school?? Essential reading for white people so we can be true allies to people of colour. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Colonisation, Death, and Hate crime

narbine's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Misogyny, Police brutality, Violence, Hate crime, Sexism, Xenophobia, Classism, and Racism

gayelfboi's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Classism, Xenophobia, Grief, Genocide, Colonisation, Slavery, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Trafficking, Islamophobia, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Mass/school shootings, and Forced institutionalization

lief_'s review against another edition

informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Classism, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Ableism

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative

5.0

i dont really have anything to say about a book like this, honestly. its something you can only learn from, rather than have sort of criticism on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Homophobia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Racism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Death, and Deportation

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

✨ Reread ✨

Now this is a PHENOMENAL book. It is hard hitting and informative. I had so many moments of anger and sadness throughout, but also a determination to address the prejudices I have in my own life. I have been struggling to find a sustainable way to address people’s racism, so Reni Eddo-Lodge talking about towards the end of the book that was impactful to me. I don’t feel that I have the eloquence to discuss what this book meant to me, so I’m including some of the text here that I really appreciated 😳

(Page 79) Opposing positive discrimination based on apprehensions about getting the best person for the job means inadvertently revealing what you think talent looks like, and the kind of person in which you think talent resides.

(Page 92) (White privilege) eases you into letting your guard down with white people, assured you’ll be taken seriously, but simultaneously not being surprised when a conversation highlights your differences against your white peers.

(Page 201) It’s worth questioning exactly who wins from the suggestion that the only working-class people worth of compassion are white, or that it’s black and ethnic minority people who are holding scant resources at the expense of white working-class people who are losing out.

A must read for anybody and everybody ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Racial slurs

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, Classism, Grief, Islamophobia, and Slavery

samdalefox's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

3.5

Renni Eddo-Lodge provides a good primer and accessible book on institutional racism embedded into our UK history and culture. It is a good entry point for anyone wanting to become actively anti-racist. Anecdotal evidence for this, my mum has bought a copy of the book to read! A 57 year old sheltered white woman is open to self-learning and I'm proud of her. It seems to have a wide appeal to the people that need to read this... white people.

Main con: the larger points on intersectionality (particuarly around that of class) I found to be overly simplistic, probably because I've read more around the subject - I'd recommend reading Bell Hooks and Angela Saini, plus Eddo Lodge credits the coiner of the term intersectionaliy Dr  Kimberlé Crenshaw. I also found this slow to read as an audiobook, so I read it at 1.5x speed. Main pro: It gives a UK perspective with UK examples. This may be obvious but it's important to highlight. A common theme in our culture is the ignorant view that racism isn't a problem here because it doesn't look exactly like that what we see in American culture, news, and anti-racist literature.  American civil rights history often eclipses the UK one. The UK absolutely does have racism and a rich civil rights history and Eddo-Lodge does well to introduce many contemporary examples across England that should shake up newcomers to the topic. My favourite quote on this subject: "Faced with collective forgetting, we must fight to remember".
 
Ultimately, although I personally didn't find the way it was written very engaging, I have learnt more and I greatly value how accessible the book is, I genuinely think it will engage a wider audience that we need to become engaged in anti-racism. The author recognises that racism is structural, that structures are made out of people and thus are an amplification of personal prejudices. I have hope that this book starts that process by challenging and educating the UK population on our personal prejudices. 
 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, and Classism

lenni_sc's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Colonisation, Slavery, and Classism