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A review by helenecats
What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
There is so much more work to be done to ensure that your ethnicity does not mean that you will be less safe, less respected, less listened to. Even if you don't usually read non-fiction, I highly recommend picking up "What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition" by Emma Dabiri.
This book is only 176 pages long and is neither condescending nor unnecessarily complicated. It has hard-hitting passages. I kept taking photos of my favourite extracts.
What I found most useful, in no particular order:
- Reading about the author's childhood in Ireland. (Dabiri was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Nigerian Yoruba father)
- Her admission that the book's title is deliberately provocative - she actually refuses to lump together all "white" people around the world, as this ignores people's vastly different cultures, social classes, etc.
- Her research into the history of what (and who!!) divided people into different "races" despite no biological rationale behind it
- Her practical tips on how to improve the situation, instead of asking "white" people to give up their privilege and be "allies" which often means maintaining a hierarchy (with a "victim") and may just be empty words or small gestures to assuage a guilty conscience
- Her reminder that if we don't find new collaborative and compassionate ways to work together beyond a purely market-based capitalism and inherited wealth, we will destroy the planet.
I could go on. This book has shot up to the top of my recommended non-fiction reads, alongside Natives by Akala.
At time of writing it cost £6.45. Do it!
PS: Beautiful cover is an embroidery by @jahnavinniss
This book is only 176 pages long and is neither condescending nor unnecessarily complicated. It has hard-hitting passages. I kept taking photos of my favourite extracts.
What I found most useful, in no particular order:
- Reading about the author's childhood in Ireland. (Dabiri was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Nigerian Yoruba father)
- Her admission that the book's title is deliberately provocative - she actually refuses to lump together all "white" people around the world, as this ignores people's vastly different cultures, social classes, etc.
- Her research into the history of what (and who!!) divided people into different "races" despite no biological rationale behind it
- Her practical tips on how to improve the situation, instead of asking "white" people to give up their privilege and be "allies" which often means maintaining a hierarchy (with a "victim") and may just be empty words or small gestures to assuage a guilty conscience
- Her reminder that if we don't find new collaborative and compassionate ways to work together beyond a purely market-based capitalism and inherited wealth, we will destroy the planet.
I could go on. This book has shot up to the top of my recommended non-fiction reads, alongside Natives by Akala.
At time of writing it cost £6.45. Do it!
PS: Beautiful cover is an embroidery by @jahnavinniss