Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
{{use dmy dates |date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
| author = Reni Eddo-Lodge
| image = File:Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race.jpg
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| caption = Cover
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| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
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| subjects = Race, racism, feminism
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| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
| published = 1 June 2017
| media_type = Print
| pages =
| awards = Jhalak Prize
| isbn = 978-1-4088-7056-3
| isbn_note = paperback
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}}{{Short description|2017 debut book by Reni Eddo-Lodge}}
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is a 2017 debut book by British writer Reni Eddo-Lodge that was published by Bloomsbury Publishing.{{cite book|title=Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race-9781408870570/|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date=30 April 2017|author=Eddo-Lodge, Reni}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/03/why-no-long-talking-white-people-review-race-reni-eddo-lodge-racism|title=Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge review – 'racism is a white problem'|last=Grant|first=Colin|date=3 June 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-stopped-talking-to-white-people-about-race-heres-what-i-learned/article36151409/|work=The Globe and Mail|title=I stopped talking to white people about race. Here's what I learned|author=Eddo-Lodge, Reni|date=September 2, 2017}}
Synopsis
The book explores the links between gender, class and race in Britain and other countries.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race|title=Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race|first=Reni|last=Eddo-Lodge|newspaper=The Guardian|date=30 May 2017|access-date=13 March 2025}}
The book begins with a summary of the experience of Black and Asian people in the UK, including the Atlantic slave trade, Indian soldiers in World War I, the Bristol Bus Boycott, the 1981 riots and Labour Party Black Sections.
The book also covers institutional racism in British society, White feminism, and definitions of class that only include White people.{{cite journal|url=https://raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/centre-for-air-and-space-power-studies/aspr/aspr-vol25-iss1-review2-pdf/|title=Book Review: Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race|first= Sabrina|last=Sheikh|journal=Air and Space Power Review|volume= 25|number=1|publisher=Royal Air Force Centre for Air and Space Power Studies|access-date=13 March 2025}}
Reviews
Trevor Phillips reviewed the work for The Times.{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Trevor|author-link=Trevor Phillips|date=18 June 2017|title=Books: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge|newspaper=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/books-why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race-by-reni-eddo-lodge-mvvctxt7z|url-access=subscription|access-date=12 March 2020}}
In The Times Literary Supplement, Bernardine Evaristo described the book's title as "gloriously provocative", noting that it was "marketing gold" in the climate surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. Evaristo described the work as "timely and accessible", "comprehensive and journalistic" as well as "resolutely unacademic", comparing it to the work of African-American writer Roxane Gay, whose 2014 anthology Bad Feminist "treads some of the same ground". However, she critiques Eddo-Lodge for not engaging in enough "rigorous research, particularly into the past" and for the fact that she "completely overlooks" the work of Black British feminist writers like Beverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe. Evaristo also noted that the book leaves open further questions, such as "What is the responsibility of black people in creating change for ourselves? Without also taking responsibility, we are dependent and powerless. What about the numerous positive developments since Windrush?"{{cite news |author=Evaristo, Bernardine |author-link=Bernardine Evaristo |title=Check Your Privilege |website=Times Literary Supplement |date=4 July 2017 |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/reni-eddo-lodge-review/ }}
Arifa Akbar reviewed the work for the Financial Times, noting that Eddo-Lodge "builds on a critical tradition drawn from black American writers" like W. E. B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, and bell hooks. Akbar notes that "Not everyone will find the answer to racial inequality in Eddo-Lodge's reliance on White consciousness-raising, but it is an important shift that undermines the idea that racism is the BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) community's burden to carry. The liberation that this book offers is in the reversal of responsibilities."{{cite news |last=Akbar|first=Arifa |date=26 May 2017 |newspaper=Financial Times |title=Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge — review |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5afdae58-3fe6-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58 }}
Writing for The Guardian, Colin Grant places the book within a wider tradition of "angry warnings to an ignorant white readership", the majority of which have been produced by African-American rather than Black British writers. Grant opined that "Eddo-Lodge accurately takes the temperature of racial discussions in the UK" but that several sections, such as its discussion of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, are too brief, stating that "this kind of book is not designed to delve beyond the headlines in order to draw lessons from the past". The book was chosen as number one in a public poll of the "Top Ten Books by Women that Changed the World" in 2018, as part of the Bookseller's Association of the UK and Ireland's Academic Book Week.{{Cite web|title=Booksellers Association - Ac Book Week: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race wins poll|url=https://www.booksellers.org.uk/industryinfo/industryinfo/latestnews/Ac-Book-Week-Why-I%E2%80%99m-No-Longer-Talking-to-White-P|access-date=2020-12-26|website=The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland Limited}}
Reviewing the work for NPR, the journalist Silvia Viñas stated that the work's "boldness" and "straight talk" is what makes it "memorable", also noting that while focusing "on events in Britain, it's still accessible to readers of black American history."{{cite news |author=Viñas, Silvia |title='Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race' Is A Call To Action |date=14 November 2017 |website=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/11/14/563728725/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race-is-a-call-to-action }}
Awards and recognition
- 2017: Longlisted – the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race{{cite web|url=https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/inside-the-covers/news/reni-eddo-lodge-interview|title=Reni Eddo-Lodge longlist author interview|date=4 October 2017|publisher=Baillie Gifford Prize|access-date=13 March 2025}}
- 2018: Longlisted – the Orwell Prize for Political Writing for Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race{{cite web|url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/news-events/news-events/news/longlists-orwell-prize-2018-revealed/| title=Longlists for The Orwell Prize 2018 revealed|date=9 April 2018|publisher=The Orwell Foundation|access-date=13 March 2025}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/eddo-lodge-makes-orwell-prize-longlist-764586|title=Smith, Penny and Eddo-Lodge make Orwell Prize longlist|date=10 April 2018|first=Natasha |last=Onwuemezi|magazine=The Bookseller|access-date=13 March 2025}}
- 2018: Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour.{{cite news|last=Flood|first= Alison |date=19 March 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/15/reni-eddo-lodge-wins-jhalak-prize-why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race |title=Reni Eddo-Lodge wins Jhalak prize for British writers of colour|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=13 March 2025}}
- 2018: British Book Award for narrative non-fiction{{cite web|url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/05/british-book-awards-nibbies-2018-winners-bookseller/|title=British Book Awards Include Political Commentary Amid Celebration|website=Publishing Perspectives|first=Porter|last=Anderson|date=14 May 2018|access-date=13 March 2025}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/18/publisher-accused-of-ripping-off-best-selling-book-on-racism|title=Publisher accused of 'ripping off' best-selling book on racism|first=Lanre|last=Bakare|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 July 2019|access-date=13 March 2025}}
- 2018: Winner of public poll of 20 books shortlisted by the UK Booksellers Association for the most influential book written by a woman.Flood, Alison (27 April 2018), [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/27/reni-eddo-lodge-poll-most-influential-women-why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race "Reni Eddo-Lodge polemic tops poll of most influential books by women"], The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2025.[https://booksellers.org.uk/industryinfo/industryinfo/latestnews/Ac-Book-Week-Why-I%e2%80%99m-No-Longer-Talking-to-White-P "Ac Book Week: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race wins poll"], Booksellers Association, 27 April 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
- 2018: Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing for Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (joint winner){{cite web|title=Joint winners of the Bread & Roses Award 2018 announced |url=https://breadandrosesprize.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/joint-winners-of-the-bread-roses-award-2018-announced/|website=The Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing|publisher=Bread and Roses Award|access-date=13 March 2025|date=3 June 2017}}
Sales
Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race became the first book by a Black British writer to reach No. 1 on the Nielsen BookScan's UK top 50 book sales chart.{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/16/reni-eddo-lodge-first-black-british-author-top-uk-book-charts-why-i-m-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race |first=Allison |last=Flood |title=Reni Eddo-Lodge becomes first black British author to top UK book charts |date=16 June 2020 |access-date=27 September 2021 }}