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

by Reni Eddo-Lodge

  This book arrived at a time when a lot of people were despairing about the political direction of the world. When I take the time to read back over it, I can’t help but dwell on the chapter on feminism. In it, I recalled an early 2014 blog post in which I lamented the lack of any discussion of race that wasn’t steeped in colour-blindness. ‘Think about the last time you heard a comprehensive discussion about the nature of structural racism in the mainstream media’, I had written. ‘...These issues just don’t get the kind of airtime that feminism does in the UK press.’ My assessment back then wasn’t wrong. Coverage in the mainstream was few and far between. Britain is a country that has a very poor record of investing in anti-racist journalists, and it is a country where black academics are numbered in the dozens rather than the thousands. I can count on one hand books of a similar tradition that have been published in Britain in the last three decades by publishing houses with the budget to increase their chances of success. We relied heavily on the American narrative as a tool to find ourselves.

  I can’t believe how much has changed since then. There has been a renaissance of black critical thought and culture. Whether it has come from companies with big budgets or creative individuals using social media, it feels like the critical anti-racist perspective is on top of a wave, kept afloat by a groundswell of support. Fashion magazine British Vogue – an institution in itself – appointed its first ever black male editor. An interview given by Alexandra Shulman, then the magazine’s outgoing editor, involved a question asking why, under her leadership, the magazine had a diversity problem. She responded with an insistence that she was ‘against quotas’ and that her Vogue simply included the people she thought were ‘interesting’6 – who just happened to be overwhelmingly white. She hasn’t got a racist bone in her body, she said, plus her grandson had a relative who was a civil rights leader, so the suggestion was deeply offensive to her. On reception by the public and her fashion peers, her comments were widely panned, with fashion website Racked calling the interview ‘a case study in white privilege’.7 I’m convinced that this critical response wouldn’t have happened even as recently as five years ago. There was the success of Get Out, an American horror film detailing the subtleties of white, liberal, fetishising racism, and there was Lubaina Himid, the first black woman to win the Turner Prize with artwork addressing slavery and the legacy of colonialism. The Tate Modern put on an unstoppably successful exhibition on art in the age of black power. When both Prime Minister Theresa May and Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn spent a little bit of their 2017 expressing a commitment to ending race inequality, I understood that anti-racism was no longer on the margins – that public opinion was turning it into a political priority. My little book was longlisted and shortlisted for prestigious awards, and earned a spot on ‘best books of 2017’ lists. Jo Swinson MP, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, posted about it on social media, calling it a ‘brilliant read’.8 This dynamic of the conversation feels new to me. I’m proud to have contributed to a renewed sense of urgency. If anything, I hope that the success of this book means I become part of a contemporary British crowd, rather than a stand-alone voice.

  None of this means that overt or structural racism is over. Donald Trump is still president of the United States, and far right white-nationalist groups around the world are encouraged by his success.9 They think that everyone will give in to the politics of hate; that they will succeed in taking the world away from the rest of us. Electorally, there has been little climb-down from the far right gains of 2016. But I do believe that there is a difference between ignorance and malice – even though the former can very much feel like (and descend into) the latter. When it comes to the middle ground, I think the side of anti-racist progress is winning. I’m filled with hope, and a kind of political nourishment, when I hear the conversations that come to the fore during my events. Every time I do one I see the audience as a hub of knowledge and potential. I see change. I see talent. It’s there in the crowd, buzzing in the atmosphere. I learn a lot, too, from the people of colour who turn up, who are experts in their respective fields and have taken on the additional job of ‘anti-racist in the room’ at work. Sometimes at these Q&A’s I think there are people in the audience who are far more qualified than me to answer specific questions. This is the power of the collective. We’ve reached a tipping point, and I’m glad that my book has served as catalyst. My dream is that the people who turn up to my events take that opportunity to meet each other, swap details and form their local resistance.

  I consider myself to be part of a movement, and I think that if you are deeply touched by what you read in this book, then you are part of that movement too. It’s happening right now.

  NOTES

  PREFACE

  1This 1994 documentary about race was championed by Oprah at the time of its release. It’s a powerful watch.

  1: HISTORIES

  1The Brooks slave-ship drawing, contributed by Bristol Museum, A History of the World in 100 Objects, BBC & The British Museum, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/Akxq5WxwQOKAF5S1ALmKnw

  2‘Ports of the Transatlantic Slave Trade’, conference paper given by Anthony Tibbles at the TextPorts conference, Liverpool Hope University College, April 2000.

  3Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, episodes 1 & 2, David Olusoga and University College London, first broadcast on BBC2 July 2015.

  4Popularised in the 1980s, the concept of political blackness was used by anti-racism activists to describe anyone who wasn’t white, in the spirit of solidarity.

  5‘Remember the World as Well as the War: Why the Global Reach and Enduring Legacy of the First World War Still Matter Today’, British Council, 2013, page 12.

  6Egypt, France, Germany, India, Russia, Turkey, United Kingdom.

  7‘Why the Indian soldiers of WW1 were forgotten’, Shashi Tharoor, BBC News Magazine, 2 July 2015, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33317368

  8‘A White Man’s War? World War One and the West Indies,’ Glenford D. Howe, BBC History, 3 October 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/west_indies_01.shtml

  9‘Riots on the streets of Cardiff as poverty hits’, Wales Online, 7 July 2009.

  10‘The Roots of Racism in City of Many Cultures’, Liverpool Echo, 3 August 2005.

  11National Archives, Spotlights on History, ‘Demobilisation in Britain, 1918–20’, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/demobilisation.htm

  12Mother Country: Britain’s Black Community on the Home Front, 1939–45, Stephen Bourne, The History Press, 2010, page 17.

  13Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain, Peter Fryer, Pluto Press, 1984, page 326.

  14The Keys, courtesy of the British Library, The League of Coloured Peoples, 1933, http://www.bl.uk/learning/citizenship/campaign/myh/newspapers/gallery1/paper2/thekeys2.html

  15The Keys, courtesy of the British Library, The League of Coloured Peoples, 1933, http://www.bl.uk/learning/citizenship/campaign/myh/newspapers/gallery1/paper5/thekeys5.html

  16By the advent of the Second World War, Dr Moody had married a white woman, Olive Tranter. They had six children, and his son, Charles Arundel ‘Joe’ Moody, was not only old enough to fight, but keen to do so. But when he went to sign up, he was told by a white army officer that it wasn’t possible, because he wasn’t of ‘pure European descent’. Outraged, Dr Moody used The Keys to campaign, and allied with other black organisations for maximum clout. His lobbying of the Colonial Office – a government department that dealt solely with affairs of Empire – led to the decision being overturned in October 1939. Joe was the second black commissioned officer ever to serve in the British Army.

  17There were very few black women in port cities due to the gendered nature of military and ship work.

  18Report on an Investigation into the Colour Problem in Liverpool and Other Ports, Liverpool: Association for the Welfare of Half-Caste Children, Muriel Fletcher, 1930.

  19‘The Fletch
er Report 1930: A Historical Case Study of Contested Black Mixed Heritage Britishness’, Mark Christian, Journal of Historical Sociology, Volume 21, Issue 2–3, pages 213–241, June/September 2008.

  20Empire Windrush 1948, Exploring 20th Century London, Renaissance London Museum, http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/empire-windrush-1948.

  21Peach, Ceri, ‘Patterns of Afro-Caribbean Migration and Settlement in Great Britain: 1945–1981’. In Brock, Colin, The Caribbean in Europe: Aspects of the West Indian Experience in Britain, France and the Netherlands, London: Frank Cass & Co. pp. 62–84.

  22Immigration Patterns of Non-UK Born Populations in England and Wales in 2011, Office for National Statistics, 17 December 2013.

  23‘White Riot: The Week Notting Hill Exploded’, Mark Olden, Independent, 28 August 2008.

  24Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, ed. Mairi Robinson, Cambridge University Press.

  25‘Notting Hill Riots – 50 years on’, Alice Bhandhukravi, BBC.co.uk, 21 August 2008.

  26‘White Riot: The Week Notting Hill Exploded’, Mark Olden, Independent, 28 August 2008.

  27‘After 44 Years Secret Papers Reveal Truth About Five Nights of Violence in Notting Hill’, Guardian, 24 August 2002.

  28Race Discrimination Bill 1960, Parliamentary Archives, HL/PO/PU/2/119.

  29‘The Race Relations Act 1965 – Blessing or Curse?’, Jenny Bourne, Institute of Race Relations, 13 November 2015, www.irr.org.uk/news/the-race-relations-act-1965-blessing-or-curse/

  30UK Government summary of immigration acts, The Immigration Acts, gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/268009/immigrationacts.pdf

  31‘1965: New UK race law “not tough enough”’, BBC: On This Day, bbc.co.uk, 8 December 1965, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_4457000/4457112.stm

  32‘The Origins of the Race Relations Act’, Philip N. Soben, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick, September 1990, research paper, page 1.

  33Population, Edition No.: Social Trends 41, ed. Jen Beaumont, Palgrave Macmillan, UK Office for National Statistics, 2011, page 3.

  34‘1968: Race discrimination law tightened’, BBC: On This Day, bbc.co.uk, 26 November 1968.

  35BBC Newsnight report on the Bristol bus boycott, 27 August 2013.

  36‘Protest Revealed City Had Its Own “Dream”’, Bristol Post, 27 August 2013.

  37‘Stop and search: what can we learn from history?’, BBC History Magazine, Wednesday 12 August 2009, http://www.historyextra.com/feature/stop-and-search-what-can-we-learn-history

  38Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order (Critical Social Studies), 30 April 1978, Stuart Hall (author), Brian Roberts (contributor), John Clarke (contributor), Tony Jefferson (contributor), Chas Critcher (contributor), Macmillan Press, p. 40.

  39‘The Power to Stop and Search’, bbc.co.uk, 14 December 2000.

  40‘Black People Still Far More Likely to be Stopped and Searched by Police than Other Ethnic Groups’, Independent, 6 August 2015.

  41Ethnic Unemployment in Britain (1972–2012), Yaojun Li, Runnymede Trust/ University of Manchester Institute for Social Change, January 2014, http://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/ethnic-unemployment-in-britain

  42Network – Paint it Black: A Portrait of Handsworth, Part 2, 1982, LBC / IRN Digitisation Archive, Global Radio UK Ltd. Radio documentary, first broadcast on BRMB Radio Birmingham in 1982.

  43‘The Legacy of the Brixton Riots’, bbc.co.uk, 5 April 2006.

  44‘1981: Brixton Riots Report Blames Racial Tension’, bbc.co.uk, 26 November 1981.

  45Violent Racism: Victimization, Policing and Social Context, Benjamin Bowling, Oxford University Press, 1999, page 53.

  46Newham Monitoring Project Annual Report 1983, courtesy of the Black Cultural Archives, page 22.

  47‘Neighbourhood policing: Past, Present and Future, A Review of the Literature’, Police Foundation, Abie Longstaff, James Willer, John Chapman, Sarah Czarnomski and John Graham, May 2015, page 9.

  48Camden Committee for Community Relations Annual Report 1984, courtesy of the Black Cultural Archives, page unknown.

  49Essays written by cadets at the Metropolitan Police Training School, Hendon, 1982. Courtesy of the Black Cultural Archives.

  50‘Police Racism and Union Collusion: the John Fernandes Case’, National Convention of Black Teachers, year unknown, page 31.

  51Labour Party Black Sections: Here to stay! The Vauxhall Experience, Vauxhall Labour Party, 1984, page 1.

  52Bernie Grant at Labour Party Conference, 1984. Archived by Bishopsgate Library.

  53Darcus Howe on Black Sections in the Labour Party, Race Today Publications, Black Rose Press, 1985, page 8.

  54‘Police Blamed Over 1985 Cherry Groce Brixton Shooting’, bbc.co.uk, 10 July 2014.

  55‘This is the room where police shot my mum, Cherry Groce’, interview by Simon Israel, Channel 4 News, Thursday 10 July 2014.

  56BBC Archive: ‘1985: Riots in Brixton after police shooting’, bbc.co.uk, 28 September 1985.

  57‘Riots in Brixton after police shooting’, Guardian archive, 30 September 1985.

  58The Killing of Constable Keith Blakelock: The Broadwater Farm Riot, Tony Moore, Waterside Press, 2015, page 103.

  59‘The Broadwater Farm uprising’, Stafford Scott, tottenhamrights.org.uk, 28 February 2014.

  60Report of the independent inquiry into disturbances of October 1985 at the Broadwater Farm Estate, Tottenham, chaired by Lord Gifford QC, Broadwater Farm Inquiry 1986, pages 76, 84.

  61‘Cherry Groce Inquest: “Astonishing” Police Failures Blamed for 1985 Brixton Riots Trigger Shooting’, International Business Times, 10 July 2014.

  62‘Inner cities policy and problems: regeneration of Liverpool and London; Docklands Urban Development Corporation’, Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas, part 7, The National Archives, Kew 1985–86.

  63Selma star David Oyelowo: ‘I had to leave Britain to have an acting career’, Radio Times, 7–13 February 2015.

  2: THE SYSTEM

  1‘Condon’s Apology is Not Enough, Say Lawrences’, Independent, 1 October 1998.

  2‘Lawrence Family Unimpressed By Police Apology’, bbc. co.uk, 17 June 1998.

  3‘The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Report of an Inquiry’, by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny, advised by Tom Cook, The Right Reverend Dr John Sentamu, Dr Richard Stone. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty, February 1999, sections 46.1, 6.34.

  4‘30 years of British Social Attitudes self-reported racial prejudice data’, NatCen Social Research, 27 May 2014.

  5‘Racism on the Rise in Britain’, Guardian, 27 May 2014.

  6Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions From Schools and Exclusion Appeals in England, 2011/12, Department for Education, 25 July 2013.

  7The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, Test Scores, Subjective Assessment and Stereotyping of Ethnic Minorities, Simon Burgess and Ellen Greaves, September 2009.

  8Destinations of Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 Pupils by Characteristics, 2010/11, Department for Education, 23 July 2013.

  9Equality in HE Statistical Report 2013 Students, Equality Challenge Unit.

  10‘The sorry state of “equality” in UK universities’, Times Higher Education, 11 December 2016, www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/sorry-state-equality-uk-universities

  11‘A Test for Racial Discrimination in Recruitment Practice in British Cities’, Martin Wood, Jon Hales, Susan Purdon, Tanja Sejersen and Oliver Hayllar, National Centre for Social Research, 2009.

  12Youth Unemployment and Ethnicity, Trades Union Congress report, 2012, pages 6–7.

  13‘Have Ethnic Inequalities in Employment Persisted Between 1991 and 2011?’, Dynamics of Diversity: Evidence From the 2011 Census, Esrc Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE), University of Manchester and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, September 2013, page 2.

  14‘
The numbers in black and white: ethnic disparities in the policing and prosecution of drug offences in England and Wales’, Niamh Eastwood, Michael Shiner and Daniel Bear, Release & London School of Economics, 2013, pages 15, 16, 31.

  15‘Police and Racism: What Has Been Achieved 10 Years After the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report?’, Jason Bennetto, Equalities and Human Rights Commission, 2009, pages 5, 29, 39.

  16‘Inside Outside – Improving Mental Health Services for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in England’, National Institute for Mental Health in England, 2003, page 40.

  17Independent Inquiry into the death of David Bennett, 2003, page 42.

  18‘Black and Minority Ethnic People with Dementia and their Access to Support and Services’, Jo Moriarty, Nadira Sharif and Julie Robinson, Social Care Institute for Excellence, March 2011, page 4.

  19‘Not-So-Positive Discrimination’, Spiked Online, 9 August 2006.

  20‘Is Football Failing Black Managers?’ BBC Sport investigates, Simon Stone, BBC Sport, 16 April 2015.

  21‘Oyston: Rooney Rule Would Be Ridiculous’, Blackpool Gazette, 14 October 2014.

  22‘Keith Curle: I’ve Not Seen Anything to Suggest “Rooney Rule” Would Work’, Guardian, 3 October 2014.

  23‘Rooney Rule “Unnecessary”, Says Premier League Chief Scudamore’, bbc.co.uk, 14 November 2014.

  24In January 2018, the Football Association announced that it will adopt Rooney rule for all England teams.

  25The Green Park Leadership 10,000, June 2015.