Poorly thought-through social commentary on the race front. A mishmash of personal opinion and popular “wokeness” that is a front for socialism aka. Untested communism aka. Benevolent totalitarian dictatorship Here, in conversation with Chu, both women discuss the roots of racism and why now is the time to move from allyship – the practice of supporting the cause of marginalised or mistreated groups to which you do not belong – to coalition: working together to achieve a common goal. This is clearly in the mold of 2020’s antiracist books, but Dabiri wouldn’t thank you for considering her under the same umbrella. She doesn’t like the concept of allyship because it reinforces unhelpful roles: people of colour as victims and white people as the ones with power who can come and save the day.

What this has shifted in my thinking as well, is seeing racism as a thing that is working. Not just as domination of one group of people over another group of people or as a contemporary structural issue. But as a historical project designed to conquer and divide people against their best interests. Before 1661, the idea of “white people” as a foundational “truth” did not exist. The Barbados Slave Code, officially known as An Act for the Better Ordaining and Governing of Negroes, announced the beginning of a legal system in which race and racism were codified into law, and is where our understanding of “White” and “Negro”—as separate and distinct “races”—finds its earliest expression.’ Vital and empowering What White People Can Do Next teaches each of us how to be agents of change in the fight against racism and the establishment of a more just and equitable world. In this affecting and inspiring collection of essays, Emma Dabiri draws on both academic discipline and lived experience to probe the ways many of us are complacent and complicit—and can therefore combat—white supremacy. She outlines the actions we must take, Stop the DenialVital and empowering What White People Can Do Next teaches each of us how to be agents of change in the fight against racism and the establishment of a more just and equitable world. In this affecting and inspiring collection of essays, Emma Dabiri draws on both academic discipline and lived experience to probe the ways many of us are complacent and complicit—and can therefore combat—white supremacy. She outlines the actions we must take, including: Yes, predating t’internet, when 'I’ll fax you' was grunted down a phone with a cord attached to it; when Glastonbury was still accessible by casually going under or over a flimsy fence; when gatecrashing a Foo Fightersaftershow party was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy and tapping Dave Grohl on the shoulder was... oh sorry I like to ramble. Not going to lie and say I did more than skim through the book. I stumbled across this in university [the only segment I read through was presented as a paper] hence that was on my reading list. Even my extremely left-leaning liberal professor was less than impressed and ripped the piece to shreds. Yes. I rate this. I’m just gonna write a mini-essay here lol if u want to read it but in short I thought this was good. I think the genre of instructing white people on how to act and behave when it comes to racism is short-sighted and needs to go and hopefully this book can start this conversation.

Hazel Chu: In Irish society, I've watched it go from something that you don't speak about – as you point out, the taboo part – to where it's kind of talked about. There's a certain openness to talking about race relations, things that are very present that we tend to have swept under the carpet, once upon a time. What were the pitfalls for you, Emma? Emma’s interrogation of whiteness explores how racism (and other subsequent results of isolative measures including colourism, featurism and texturism) is deeply rooted in capitalist agendas aimed at wealth creation and retention. Emma Dabiri ist in ihrem Essay ein Balanceakt gelungen: Sie kritisiert Formen des Aktivismus, spricht ihnen aber nicht ihren Wert ab, sondern macht vielmehr deutlich, dass eine Konzentration auf kleine Rädchen ohne Bekämpfung des Systems an sich nicht zum gewünschten Ziel, der Lösung von repressiven und klassistischen Denksystemen und einer besseren Welt für alle Menschen, führen kann. In mir hat das Buch sehr viel angestoßen, und mir zahlreiche neue Denkansätze geboten. Besonders toll fand ich zudem das Kapitel über Schwarze Literatur, in dem die Autorin eine Leseliste Schwarzer Schreibender an die Hand gibt. we should try to understand our lives as a dynamic flowing of positions" as opposed to the rigid identity norms that have been imposed by capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. Bottom line at the beginning because I'm going to be rambling a lot: Don’t make whiteness the protagonist of your speech! Don’t be patronizing! Don’t just engage in social media activism! Read, read, read, and dance!Dabiri’s stance on anti-racism & allyship may seem radical and/or polarising to some, especially post-2020, but her penchant for asking questions is an inspiration and revealed such a wealth of information with much food for thought + many recommendations for future reading/self-education with the quotes she has included. I foresee a rabbit hole in my very near future. 🤓

a b Dabiri, Emma (2021). What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-311271-1. This led to poorer white people developing feelings of animosity and resentment towards the British Empire as capitalism byway of colonialism highlighted the class difference between the rich and the poor.Another big problem is the mixed messages. On the one hand, ‘silence is violence’, but then on the other hand, it’s ‘you can never understand this, so you shouldn't be in this conversation’. In the past, there wasn’t this demanding of obsequious language from people. No matter what you do, it's not the right thing. I despair at the demands of allyship that exists today, like the online pile ons. It often never gets past this very gladiatorial accusatory space online. The real work of coalition building never happens, because it's just grounded in this toxic language and the bigger picture is obscured. It doesn't feel very strategic, it feels more like interpersonal grievances being expressed and settled." Do you see the rise of nationalism a threat to coalition and dismantling racism? Stripping humans of meaning in their lives, beyond their racial identity, creates a fertile breeding ground for violent forms of nationalism--state,racial, and ethnic--to grow.’ Most importantly, this book is for everyone. We should also appreciate that we have an academic like Emma Dabiri writing as if James Connolly and Audre Lorde had a love child.

Her book demands we look for a 'coalition of common goals' and focus on a mass movement that’ll make a just future for all of us. She believes change will only happen if we:

Racialized Thinking and "White Guilt" Are Holding Us Back From Progress

Dabiri has appeared on the television programmes Have I Got News For You, Portrait Artist of the Year. [12] and Question Time. This is jumping on the bandwagon behind DeAngelo and Kendhi and the other con artists praying on people's good intentions, leveraging tragedies and historical unfairness [too the tune of original sin, martyrdom, self-flagellation, repentance confession, hail maries, and all the trappings of a new inquisitory religion]. It seems to be so easy to complain about “the system” and its “permanent or structural” problems while profiting from those systems. I doubt these authors have forsaken their phones, laptops, cars, clothes, etc. All proceeds from these books should HAVE to be donated to other non-published authors. After all, that’s how collective works right? the few work for the many? Equal in everything (mostly poverty but whatever right?) The author proposes coalition over allyship as a way to achieve this, defining the latter as an individualistic process that would only separate us more. Instead "coalition is about mutuality. It reframes the task as identifying common ground—while attending to the specificities of racism—that all can strive for and that all will benefit from." It’s solidarity as opposed to charity. She bases this, on coalition building that have work in the past. Whilst capitalism as an economic system thrives on the exploitation of one group of people for the material gain of another – a definition that once lent itself entirely to racism – racism is now the bitter ex-wife that is separate to capitalism, but is still healing from the trauma of being wed.