Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour

This book thoroughly highlights and unveils several delusions that are common in the greater (white) culture of the Western world. Primary among them is the idea that white women have been unaware or innocent during some of history's worst atrocities. For instance, Hamad draws on examples from colonial America & Australia to show that white women were not only complicit in genocidal behavior but also strong proponents of it.

That's not to say that White Tears/Brown Scars is purely about betrayals of the past - it most certainly is not. Hamad discusses the past only to bolster the truth at the heart of this book: that even in modern life, a myth of white female innocence is just as common and damaging as ever. Using examples from real individuals, her own experience, and the media, Hamad outlines the ways that white women willfully use their tears and presumed "innocence" to dismiss and damage women of color. Time after time, white women have shown that if they're even mildly criticized for racist behavior, they will become belligerently sad and defensive. By taking a concern and transforming it into a personal attack, the focus of the argument then becomes centered solely on the white woman's feelings. If there's any sort of audience, other folks do their best to assuage the sad white woman. Thus, the initial concerns and distress of the person of color become completely forgotten. This is a collective delusion that gaslights women of color.

When white womanhood and its insidious associations of presumed innocence are continually prioritized and promoted, the "feminist" movement has failed. Hamad proves that equality among women is only achievable once white women are willing to acknowledge their complicity in upholding whiteness. Throughout history, whiteness has been a self-perpetuating power structure built on outright lies. We need to recognize the delusions that we continue to uphold & promote and stop centering white feelings in discussions of race.

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jailynxpaige's review against another edition

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emotional informative slow-paced

3.75

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jaiari12's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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meritm's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

I've been wanting to read this for a while and finally got it from the library as an audiobook. First off, I'd like to mention that I thought the narrator was very well chosen. She did an excellent job and it was easy to follow her. The book divided into 8 chapters, each very interesting and for me eye-opening as I had previously had trouble understanding how deeply rooted in colonialism our stereotypes today are and how impossible it is to differentiate between racism and sexism when it comes to discrimination against women of colour. Ruby Hamad explained the historic origins and modern developments very well while giving a lot of examples. In about 7 hours she managed to go through several hundred years and almost all continents. Sometimes I did not understand how things she had mentioned before and the topic she was currently discussing fit together until the very end.
Also, the title and cover of this book are so well chosen!! I thought this was very informative and a good pick for my "obligatory" non-fiction, educative read :)

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thenonbinaryc's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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