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emmaas_bookshelf's review
4.0
A great quick read that makes you think about more than just black vs white but rather the entire corrupt belief that is whiteness as it relates to colonialism and capitalism.
rainbowwitch's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
jennaclarek's review
what i liked most about this book is that while it does have helpful tips on what we can do to help with racism, it's mostly a book about how allyship in general is not enough. a lot of what people consider allyship these days is either performative or online-based...and while that can be important, and it's great to diversify our feeds, etc. most of the work we need to do cannot be quantified. i think so much of modern allyship is focused on shaming people and doing things to be seen, when in actuality a lot of the things we white people need to be doing are more internal and also more proactive. this book does a great job of highlighting that — how we should be learning more, but that learning looks like a lot of different things. and we also need to be putting actions to our words. and we need to work on changing the systems rather than just sharing posts on instagram. i think i most enjoyed the sections on capitalism if only because i HATE capitalism and it's always great to see people explore how racism and capitalism overlap. i also really enjoyed hearing more about the specific racism in ireland because that is so rarely talked about in the books i read! overall this was pretty quick (and i'm grateful because my brain is fried) but it packed a lot of punch and i think it can be really helpful to people in the early stages of anti-racism literature!
acacia_happy_hour's review
5.0
Well worth a read if you want to create a better world (and who doesn’t these days?) - a good reminder of how we got here, who the real enemy is, and that we need to join hands and do the hard work to fix it.
decie's review against another edition
4.75
much to think about!! I think I need to let this settle and then come back to some of the concepts to let them sink in.
andreareyes's review against another edition
2.5
What I liked: Dabiri’s request to find spaces of mutuality; insistence that our sanctimonious categories of race/ class/ gender/ sexuality are still built within the white superiority framework and her attitude of annoyance. I liked that she was annoyed that so much rhetoric surrounding anti racism is created for white people. I liked that she really didn’t care for racial identities. They’re made up anyway. I liked that she wanted us to deemphasize race.
For example, people are very much into anti-racist tactics right now. The very act of anti-racism emphasizes race. Emphasizing race causes (for lack of a better word) white people still look through the world through a lens of race. There are more to people than their race!!!!
Dabiri also knows that of course of COURSE all our history and context is through the lens of race, so learning about it is important. She’s still allowed to be annoyed by it. I like that
What I didn’t like: I wish there was more theory or critiques for and by Southeast Asian people. I desperately missed that in this novel. I kept wanting to scream “what about me”
For example, people are very much into anti-racist tactics right now. The very act of anti-racism emphasizes race. Emphasizing race causes (for lack of a better word) white people still look through the world through a lens of race. There are more to people than their race!!!!
Dabiri also knows that of course of COURSE all our history and context is through the lens of race, so learning about it is important. She’s still allowed to be annoyed by it. I like that
What I didn’t like: I wish there was more theory or critiques for and by Southeast Asian people. I desperately missed that in this novel. I kept wanting to scream “what about me”