Little disclaimer: Tupoka Ogette makes it clear from the beginning that this book was written for a white (German) target audience that hasn't engaged with the topic of anti-Black racism deeply. As an Afro-German woman who has researched and dealt with that topic extensively I don't belong to that audience. Therefore, my rating is reflective of what this book is trying to be – a guide for a white audience that is willing (!) to educate themselves on the topic of anti-Black racism and wants some practical tips that can be implemented in everyday life – and not of how useful I personally find it for myself. The book achieves what it wants to achieve brilliantly, but if you're BIPOC and/or know a lot about the concept and consequences of everyday racism you won't learn many new things. I only read these types of books to assess to whom I can recommend them in the future.
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Racism can be found in almost every aspect of our lives – whether in a private setting, at school, or at work. Unfortunately, our (German) society has trouble seeing racism clearly and dealing with it properly. With her book, Tupoka Ogette, an Afro-German anti-racism trainer, wants to help white Germans on their journey toward an anti-racist/racism-critical life.
Ogette wants to guide her readers in their personal confrontation with the issue of racism, especially in how it pertains to them as white people. The book is an invitation to each of her readers to make a conscious decision to deconstruct the system of racism piece by piece, every single day. In Germany, many white people have only come to the realization that racism exists since the murder of George Floyd in 2020. There is uncertainty about what thinking and living critically of racism might look like in concrete terms in everyday situations.
The book includes small tools, such as lists of questions, and provides food for thought that offer a way to examine and question oneself and one's own feelings. The book could also be a helpful read for people who reject racism altogether or who do not consider themselves to be racist. With the help of the questions formulated that invite the readers to self-examination, one's own racist ways of thinking can be unmasked, even if one would never have thought them possible in the first place. However, willingness (!) to learn and to change is key. Readers who are unwilling to question themselves and/or are die-hard racists at heart, won't be changed by this book... or any book for that matter.
In order to examine one's own racist ways of thinking and living, it helps to talk about it. Ogette describes talking about racism as a muscle that should be exercised daily. But for such conversations, she says, we need safe spaces. The anti-racism trainer advises people to sit down with confidants, friends or someone affected by racism (but only if they're up for it!) to approach the topic.
Especially with people you're close with, such as family members, or are in a power relationship with, such as boss-employee relationships, such conversations may not be easy, but (!) they are possible. The goal is to share thoughts, insights, or internal contradictions and to work together to find a course of action to be critical of racism. A recent book or podcast on the topic of racism can be a gerat starting point. It is important in the conversation not to generalize and to endure uncomfortable feelings, Ogette writes. In such an exchange, she says, lies the chance for a change of perspective that can make it easier to get along with one another in everyday life and reduce painful experiences.
To those of you aren't aware, Und jetzt du. is already the second book by Ogette. In March 2017, her handbook exit RACISM, which I'd highly recommend to white Germans as well, was published.
The motivation for writing both books lies in her personal situation. Ogette was born in 1980 as the daughter of a Black Tanzanian student of agriculture and a white German student of mathematics in Leipzig. Shortly before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, her mother moved with her to West Berlin and her parents separated. Ogette lived in Berlin until she graduated from high school. She then studied and earned a master's degree in African Studies and German as a Foreign Language at the University of Leipzig and a master's degree in International Business at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business.
Already as a young child, Ogette noticed that her skin color was a trigger for all kinds of "conflicts" and she painfully learns what racism means. Her life in Germany as a Black woman among white people has left its mark. In her book, she uses concrete incidents from her everyday life to draw attention to the topic: empathetically and forcefully. Now, as a Black mother of two Black boys, Ogette sees how much, yet how little has changed ever since she was a child. To empower her Black boys, she taught them the mantra "Ich bin richtig, ich bin wichtig." ("I am right, I am important") that they repeat to each other every single day – which I thought was a cute anecdote. The fact that her own children have to endure racism on the playground, in school, in sport's clubs etc. pushes her even harder to fight against racism and educate white people.
By the way, I also found it interesting that Ogette let us peak behind the scenes of what it means to be an anti-racism trainer and to work with white people, constantly having these difficult discussions as part of your job. I found that really fascinating. And she's very vulnerable with it, e.g. she writes that during one of her earliest workshops where she got a lot of backlash from the white attendees, she cried in the toilet in the break, or she also shared that she no longer does mandatory courses for companies, only courses where the people want to be there out of their own free will.
Overall, the book is an excellent starting point for white people who want to educate themselves on the topic of anti-Black racism and who are still unfamiliar with all the important terms that are needed for speaking about it properly, like "BIPOC", "derailing" (= patterns of behavior which shift the focus of a conversation away from the original topic of discussion), "white fragility", "allyship" (= it's not about "helping" BIPOC, it's about developing your own anger against racism because you don't want to live in a racist world yourself) etc. Ogette also does an excellent job at answering the questions most pressing to white Germans: "Why can't white Germans experience racism?", "Why can't we ask BIPOC where they're from as smalltalk?" etc.
As much as I appreciated the book and Ogette's work overall, there were still a few things that bothered me, and so I would like to talk about them as well:
1) Lack of proof. In a few instances, Ogette doesn't substantiate her claims, e.g. when she writes "The rate of PTSD among BIPOC is many times higher than among white people", there is no proof of where she got that statistic from and to whom it applies (globally or only to a specific nation? ... who knows).
2) Transferring U.S. problems to a German context. It isn't surprising that Ogette draws heavily upon (African-)American scholars and studies that were executed in the U.S. – most German scholars writing on the topic of (anti-)racism do. And often that transferal is possible: when writing about white fragility, for instance, it's okay to use already existing definitions that come out of the U.S., I don't expect Ogette to come up with terms and concepts of her own. However, when she cites specific studies that specifically only apply to a U.S. context, it's a distortion of the truth to transfer them to the German context. For example, in her chapter on racism in the healthcare system, she heavily draws upon U.S. studies that show that Black babies die at a higher rate than white ones, or that white doctors and nurses underestimate the pain Black people are capable of feeling and therefore prescribe them less painkillers etc. Ogette then implies that it's the same here in Germany. But she doesn't know that. Racially specific studies/data are forbidden by German law. They quite frankly don't exist.
3) Dumbing down complex discussions to fit her narrative. Luckily, she doesn't do that often but the one chapter I took issue with was Ogette's analysis of cultural appropriation. Personally, I don't see the topic of cultural appropriation as black or white, and when Ogette writes that white people are praised and seen as "cool and trendy" when wearing traditionally Black hairstyles that's simply not true. White people face a lot of backlash for that, and not just from the Black community, white people with locks, for example, are seen as "unfit"/"unsuitable" to work in certain jobs. Sometimes it's not that easy and I hate this German tradition of wanting everything to fit your narrative and talking points. It's okay to see the shades of grey sometimes!
4) Weird orchestration of herself. This is something I noticed a few times, e.g. the dialogues that Ogette shares that have supposedly happened between her and her son feel inauthentic and made up to me. Another example would be her Instagram post after the murder of George Floyd that she shares in the beginning of the book: in the photo she is posing by putting both of her hands in front of her face... why stage a photo in such a horrifying situation and make it about yourself? I dunno. It seemed hella weird to me.
Don't let these criticisms deter you from reading this book, they are a) not apparent throughout the entire book, they are often only present in a few chapters and b) it's enough to be mindful of theses criticism and still enjoy and learn from everything else Ogette offers in her brilliant book! Seriously, this is one of the most successful takes on anti-Black racism and how to deal with it as a white person in Germany!