WIN a copy of Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

[Fer]

Jo wrote: "Dear Our Shared Shelf,
We are super happy to be giving away 60 copies of our current read 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race' by Reni Eddo-Lodge.

For your chance to win a copy, ..."

I think this book is important now because people need to understand the struggle that colour people keep facing, and reading this books is giving a different perspective, a real perspective to white people.
As a native young woman of a country in South America i want to get educated and educate Others about why people from Haiti, for example, are travelling to My country, searching oportunities and a new and better life, but we are not giving them these things when we are racist without knowing, or not doing anything to stop them from being insultated or pushed down in an imaginaty scale where your status depends on the colour of your skin.
I think this books is important because if everyone reads it, we will create a society where books like this are no longer important.
I met a wonderful black person a year ago in a group, and being 20 people no one cared about the colour of the skin, because his smile, his spirit was so radient of light and good. I want a world like this, a world in which we can hold hands without caring about the skin that is touching yours, but caring about what the person is like, what is facing. A world when people should not be afraid of the police instead of trusting them.
I can't get a copy of this book where i live, it is not even in My native language. But if i win one of that copies i assure you that it will be on the hands of somebody who will try her best to understand it and share it with people who can't because racism is a problem that involves everyone. If it is not happening to you it does not mean it is non-existent.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Why you think this book is so important now?

This is a challenging book because the focus is more about the structural or institutional structure in government and society. I see this book as more of a book to start conversations and a possible way not necessarily trying to mimic. I say this because I live in America and for us we always have focused on racism and prejudices. Always a topic in our educational upbringing was the abolition of slavery. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learn so much more about the topic and how complex it is.

I think the best way to tackle the issue of racism is not to make others feel bad for who they are. Don't have the us vs. them attitude and just treat people nice. There are people that will always disagree with you and you'll never change their minds. Stop the debates with them, stop the arguing or trying to change their view. It isn't going to happen. Instead, focus on our humanity and what we have in common. It reminds me of the book "Superman Versus The Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate. It took a group of people to work on that production slow down the Ku Klux Klan. Bring it to more current times Daryl Davis, has been befriending Ku Klux Klan members and through befriending and listening to them as well as they get to know him, he has convinced over 200 Klansman to leave the Ku Klux Klan. To me that is amazingly powerful and inspiring. Instead of having heated dialogs over the internet with people, which words get lost in translation, he was able to carry out a meaningful action. Many times it's all about the approach and when our words are lost through online forums emotions rise and ears close. This requires a face to face discussion that looks at compassionate listening because there is a lot of hurt, guilt, loss, and many other emotions people have in this topic.

There is a lot this book covers but mainly it opens a dialog for people to try to connect with. Everyone is in their own process and some will agree with the approach while others don't. For many this is the first time they've read anything like this but what I'd recommend is for them to mean with others in face to face discussions about this book. Apply what you think is right and adapt what you need to because this isn't a cookie cutter topic and it's different when you put other ethnic backgrounds in the mix, especially mixed backgrounds, or second generations (the ghost generations) in a country.

Honestly this book is about power structures. It's good to be aware of how power structures shape society and how they impose roles.

[Elodie Drt]

As a black girl I think this book is so important as a starter to engage dialogue on race and discrimination. :)

[紫淇]

Her original blog post struck a chord with me and many others. The book is so important because it provides us with an important resource allowing us to take on personality responsibility to educate ourselves about troubled race relations in society. I'm particularly eager to read her ownvoices discussion of structural racism in Britain, as much of the discourse I've sought out and been exposed to have been highly USA-centric.

[Kristy]

I am a teacher and sociologist. I think books like this are important in breaking down barriers. We are all people and we need to really understand each other and what makes us who we are!

[Amanda]

Whiteness and colonialism will continue to erase, push aside, assimilate, and co-opt the voices and experiences of black women. This book is simply another opportunity, in a history of many black authors who always seek to pronounce more loudly so that whiteness may finally listen. This is the story of the untold, and presents itself to whiteness so that it may possibly understand the voices of the others, those outside, the voices of black women who for so long have not been allowed to speak at the table and whose voices for so long have been silenced, & out-shouted. This is their song, may it continue.

[Kevin]

Experience breeds enlightenment
The only word to understand is why
Ignorance and enlightenment are mutually exclusive

Capillary action trumps gravity
An oak stands forever in the sky
Experience breeds enlightenment

Baby brains crammed instinctively
Skimming lines, deciphering lies
Ignorance and enlightenment are mutually exclusive

Different shoes, both size nine Nikes
Couldn’t tell you which ones to try
Experience breeds enlightenment

It’s not there if the eyes don’t see
Wings don’t work if they don’t fly
Ignorance and enlightenment are mutually exclusive

(S)he is nothing more than the sum of we
(S)he never really lives until (s)he has died
Experience breeds enlightenment
Ignorance and enlightenment are mutually exclusive

[Stephanie]

This book is important to me because we are becoming a society full of judgment. We should be working toward trying to understand each other and understand the struggle that each person is going through. I, for one, do not quite understand a lot of these experiences (since I myself am white), but I understand that hard as it may be to understand what people go through is super important. How can I expect to be a positive influence in the world if I do not understand its people?

[Rosa]

I don't know why this book is important to read because I haven't read it. But I am from Europe, more concretely I was born in Spain, and theere we don't really have nearly as much racism as in the States. In fact I didnt think racism was still so big in the States until six years ago , when I lived abroad and made lots of American friends. Not that they were racist, but they told me stories about their home country that opened my eyes. There is so much I still don't know about the world. I think this book could help me make under it a little better.

[Chalklate]

I think this book is important. In particular, I think it is important to me because speaking on matters of race after a certain point gets exhausting and, as such, garnering more information n this subject matter will be immensely helpful in this day and age.

[Andrew]

When it comes to topics like race, or feminism, I see a lot of people who try and neatly sweep it under the rug. They persist that these issues are overblown, unrealistic, etc. etc., yet I constantly witness people who make offhanded racist remarks and oblivious sexist comments.
This book is so important right now -important to me- because I live in the United States; under the leadership of a man who takes days to voice an only neutral response to rioting white-supremacists, but can immediately give criticism towards a respectful protest by a black athlete. Racism and sexism are still incredibly prevalent in the modern world, and a book like this is important in changing that.