Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

by Reni Eddo-Lodge

The journey towards understanding structural racism still requires people of colour to prioritise white feelings.

I felt that her whiteness allowed her to be disinterested in Britain’s violent history, to close her eyes and walk away.

We tell ourselves that racism is about moral values, when instead it is about the survival strategy of systemic power.

We don’t live in a meritocracy, and to pretend that simple hard work will elevate all to success is an exercise in wilful ignorance.

Colour-blindness does not accept the legitimacy of structural racism or a history of white racial dominance.

White children are taught not to ‘see’ race, whereas children of colour are taught – often with no explanation – that we must work twice as hard as our white counterparts if we wish to succeed.

The idea of white privilege forces white people who aren’t actively racist to confront their own complicity in its continuing existence.

There is an unattributed definition of racism that defines it as prejudice plus power.

It eases you into letting your guard down with white people, assured that you’ll be taken seriously, but simultaneously not being surprised when a conversation highlights your difference against your white peers.

White privilege is the perverse situation of feeling more comfortable with openly racist, far-right extremists, because at least you know where you stand with them; the boundaries are clear.

her white American-ness will have her positioned as an ‘expat’ rather than an ‘immigrant’.

White people are so used to seeing a reflection of themselves in all representations of humanity at all times, that they only notice it when it’s taken away from them.

Now we hear that it is the task of women of colour to educate white women – in the face of tremendous resistance – as to our existence, our differences,

Women of colour were positioned as the immigrants of feminism, unwelcome but tolerated – a reluctantly dealt-with social problem.

Can you be a feminist and be wilfully ignorant on racism?

Whiteness is a political position,

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

British people thought the foreign-born population of the country was 31 per cent, as opposed to the actual number of 13 per cent.

immigration blamers encourage you to point to your neighbour and convince yourself that they are the problem, rather than question where wealth is concentrated in this country, and exactly why resources are so scarce.

White support looks like financial or administrative assistance to the groups doing vital work. Or intervening when you are needed in bystander situations. Support looks like white advocacy for anti-racist causes in all-white spaces. White people, you need to talk to other white people about race. Yes, you may be written off as a radical, but you have much less to lose.

But I don’t want white guilt. Neither do I want to see white people wasting precious time profusely apologising rather than actively doing things. No useful movements for change have ever sprung out of fervent guilt. Instead, get angry. Anger is useful. Use it for good. Support those in the struggle, rather than spending too much time pitying yourself.