A review by _fallinglight_
White Tears/Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Everything about this book is exceptional and so insightful and informative. Some parts of the book can be little hard to digest emotionally or academically and but I appreciated that when Ms. Hamad quoted another writer or thinker and the quote was a little too academically verbose she diluted it enough for the not so academic or deeply philosophical readers aka me. I really liked the international scope the book has and how the author gives so much perspective on the colonization of Aboriginal women. This book also gave me rationalization on why White American feminism never appealed to me and why in my most cringey adolescent moments I didn't identify with feminism. It was all white feminism's fault! As I kept reading and learning about all the ways white women upheld white supremacy and racism and class division I kept remembering that super creepy compilation of white women on Tik Tok all hysterically crying and then immediately stopping and then sinisterly smiling to the camera. Like none of them stopped to think about the history of harm those tears by their twisted ancestors caused to so many people of color and Black men, or rather, they KNOW the power of their tears and flaunted it for all to see which makes me wanna scream and also run far away from any white woman. Gonna have to be honest tho and say I didn't give it a full 5 bc it kinda rubbed me the wrong way that Ms. Hamad included the men that reached out to say they knew all too well about (white) women's tears bc they had experienced it firsthand. Like I'm glad she felt support from them but also I hope these men didn't use her article to use it as some sort of approval by a woman of color to them saying that any woman who cries during an emotional or stressful situation is just manipulative bullshit. I know that wasn't the intent of adding that here but men like to tergivisate and I just know most interpreted it that way. Other than that very small thing in the book I admit I'm amplyfing bc it bothered me personally, this book is amazing and should be read by every single white woman and those who think assimilating into whiteness is their way to power/making it. 
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