The Hate U Give, Queenie and Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

This month I‘ve focused on reading books by black authors; fiction and non-fiction. I really felt that with the amount of spare time I now have and through re-finding my love of reading, I needed to widen my horizons and think about the stories and authors I am consuming, using what I read to educate and move a little bit closer to understanding my own White Privilege. The Hate U Give Angie Thomas

The first book I read this month was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. The story follows Starr, a young black girl who lives in a poorer neighbourhood but attends the posh school in the suburbs. She straddles two lives and struggles to find the balance and live up to expectations of what her black identity means in relation to her white boyfriend and friends and to her family. When her childhood friend is shot and killed by a police officer, in front of her, Starr is confronted by her desire to speak out for Kahlil, whilst also fearing for her own life. The story is deeply honest, written from Starr’s perspective, dealing with her relationship with her white friends and their behaviour towards her and her black friends and her family. The fear and constant worry that Black people, face from the force that is supposed to protect is something that I, as a white woman, will never truly understand. But through reading this book I was able to see and grasp why this is and the white characters within the book are examples of why white people need to be actively anti-racist and not just ‘nice’.

Queenie Candie Carty-Williams

This deeply honest, comic and enlightening book follows Queenie as she deals with love, sex, race and mental health and how family and friends are so important, if not ridiculously annoying. I loved how open and honest Candice Carty-Williams wrote about sex and Queenie’s visits to the sexual health clinic, as I don’t think I have read something fiction that has been so open. I think writing about sex and sexual health in such an honest and open way, and from the perspective of a black women is crucial to be able to relate and understand situations that all women experience to some degree. Queenie’s struggle with her mental health after her breakup and Candice Carty-Williams writing of the difficulty of seeking help for fear of appearing weak to your family, was something I felt was also really important and powerful to read. Overall, I found this book funny, heartbreaking and educating, loving Queenie for her humour and her strength.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race Reni Eddo-Lodge

I tried to order this online, but it was sold out everywhere, so I downloaded it from my university library as an ebook and read it pretty much in one go

This book is the history lesson that we all missed and needed at school. Lodge’s fact driven and historical tracking of racial inequality within Britain is crucial as at school I only learnt about this from an American perspective. White British people seem to be blind to the fact that this has and is still happening in this country and that the slave trade benefited and built wealth in this country, take for example Bristol and the statue of Edward Colston who made his wealth through the slave trade. Britain’s colonial past is something, more often than not, glossed over and the increase in the country’s black population after the Second World War increased tensions between white and blacks in ares like Notting Hill and Nottingham, yet the government remained immovable on suggesting that there was a racism problem. Fast forward to 1970 and the introduction of ‘sus laws‘, implementing the power for the police to stop and search anyone they suspect is committing a crime, saw black people being disproportionately targeted. The chapter ‘What is White Privilege?’ was rightly uncomfortably enlightening and awakened myself to the truth about my White Privilege. Lodge writes that ‘white privileged is the fact that if you’re white, your race will almost certainly positively impact your life’s trajectory in some way. And you probably won’t even notice it.’ She continues to say that ‘the idea of white privilege forces white people who aren’t actively racist to confront their own complicity in its continuing existence,’ which made me deeply reflect on my own behaviour, education and actions and how I can become actively anti-racist. I would highly recommend reading this book and listening to Lodge’s podcast About Race for an education on Black British History and White Privilege in Britain.

I have learnt so much from reading these books, and would highly recommend reading them. However, if you’re not a book person then The Hate U Give has been made into a film and is on Amazon Prime, 13th on Netflix is devastatingly education about mass incarceration in America and About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge is also brilliant.