I bought this in November 2021 (I’d really like to get into 2022’s books at some point! I just checked and I have five more to go from 2021) as part of a haul of social justice books from the local Oxfam Books – someone must have donated them pretty quickly as they were good as new. Of the four I bought then, I have now read and reviewed two and I’m reading one, with one more to come. I have read and reviewed the other four books acquired that month, so not doing tooooo badly.
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu – “This is Why I Resist: Don’t Define my Black Identity”
(23 November 2021, Oxfam Books)
To readers looking for a dispassionate piece of writing or words sugar-coated to make you feel comfortable, this book is not it. The power of my resistance is fuelled by my passion, pride, anger, frustration, joy and authenticity. My accomplishments, as a Black woman, are not proof that racism does not exist but evidence of God’s grace and the sacrfices of giants before me, including my parents, who paved the way.” (p. 3)
This righteously and rightfully angry and forthright boook was written and then published in the heat of the post-George Floyd / Black Lives Matter times when a whole sheaf of books by Black authors were published and got onto all those reading lists. Reading it now, a few years on (following my policy of not reading everything all at once but spacing such books out to continue sharing their impact), it feels almost like a historical document – and an important one regarding several aspects.
We see a woman who has battled against systemic racism her whole life getting space to have her say and saying it. We read her talking about events that happened and personal interactions she had on UK media and social media. And we see many examples which might now even be lost, but are definitely lost back in the Twitter/X timeline, of reactions to events and articles from different sides.
I don’t suppose that at the time it was intended to provide a record of how things felt for a Black academic woman in the public eye in 2020/2021 (boldly opening with a quote from the Telegraph newspaper claiming she is “arguably one of the most toxic voices in Britain’s race relations debate”!) but it does, and that’s of value now.
The book covers the bases it was useful to explain at that time: what is racism and how was it invented and promoted / what is White privilege, useful suggested answers to common racial microaggressions, and then also looks at feminism, which isn’t always covered. I wonder if it’s achieved it’s aim, though, sadly: “This is Why I Reist is a declaration that the Black identity will no longer be defined by a prejudiced mindset steeped in institutional racism that enforces White supremacy” (p. 5). It’s very interesting that the author is at pains to emphasise that it’s not all White people / women who are racist or exclusionary: later books I’ve read go more down the route of yes, all White people are complicit, so it’s interesting as presumably a tactic or something imposed by the publisher as presumably a way to make the work more palatable to White readers.
So lots of value here both as a guide and as a document of record.
This is Book 21 in my 2024 TBR project – 120 to go!
hopewellslibraryoflife
Apr 07, 2024 @ 20:29:33
I’m thinking if she gives Glory to God in that quote, then perhaps she has been specifically looking for the good in individuals and seeing them through a Christian mindset of all are created in God’s image? Just my 2 cents on that.
This makes me so sad: “it feels almost like a historical document” Here in the USA I can totally believe it feels like that. What with a bought-off supreme court (including a black justice) and all the toxic “Christian Nationalism” [Which is NOT the way ALL or even MOST American Christians view the world!!] of the MAGA/Trumpers it’s hard to believe we ever had any renewed focus on race today. And this book is 4 years old (apprx with writing and publication time factored in). Sad.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 08, 2024 @ 06:34:20
That’s a really interesting point I hadn’t thought of, thank you for that. The “not all White people” did seem odd considering she’d promised to make readers uncomfortable but the Christian context makes that more understandable.
Regarding the historical document piece, yes, I did think I’m not sure that much has changed, but also it is a record of bad and good stuff that happened around that time and social media / TV stuff that will have got lost. She was writing in mid-2020 from some bits she says in the book. But yes, the focus is waning, which is partly why I’m spreading these books out through my reading and sharing.
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Apr 08, 2024 @ 15:16:31
Nationalism is such an evil force. Good on the surface–every citizen should be proud of their nation, it’s veterans, etc. but it is evil underneath and that evil is a lethal cancer.
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wadholloway
Apr 09, 2024 @ 00:28:43
I’m white of course, and have long believed that the biggest evil is the division of the world into armed and mutually hostile camps otherwise known as nations.
But I have been slow to realise that the division of the human race into whites and non-whites is as big an evil.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 11, 2024 @ 09:42:57
I feel I had the same pathway, too!
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MarketGardenReader/IntegratedExpat
Apr 09, 2024 @ 12:36:07
This sounds really interesting both as a record of a particular time and because it’s written by a British academic. Also, the attitude of ‘youre white, therefore automatically complicit’ immediately makes people feel defensive rather than listening.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 11, 2024 @ 09:43:57
Yes, indeed on both aspects. That attitude does indeed do that, however it’s very common in books published slightly later than this one (interestingly also not in the one on biracial identity I’ve just read but haven’t reviewed yet)
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Lisa notes...
Apr 14, 2024 @ 00:23:26
I haven’t heard of this book so I’m glad to learn of it. I’ve read some books in this genre that are easy to digest and others that make me uncomfortable. It’s the latter ones that really make me search out which hidden biases I have yet to uncover in myself. There is still so much work to do in this area. Sometimes it appears we’re moving backwards instead of forward, and it can be quite discouraging. As white people, I hope we’ll continue to listen with humility to our nonwhite human siblings to see and change any harm we are still causing them. Thank you for this review, Liz! I’ll look forward to the next one you’ll review.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 19, 2024 @ 11:57:11
Thank you – yes, we’re on the same page there I think. You have hopefully seen the review of the excellent Biracial now, lots to think about there, too.
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heavenali
Apr 17, 2024 @ 18:59:45
Sorry Liz, horribly behind on blog reading. This does indeed sound like an angry book, and rightly so. I’m glad the author doesn’t consider all white people complicit in the racism that exists. That attitude has perhaps alienated readers of other books.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 19, 2024 @ 11:59:15
It’s interesting because I was glad to see the work of 90s and earlier feminists reclaimed as I and Kaggsy and other people I know recall that time as being very multicultural, although we are I fear complicit in systemic racism nowadays (though how can you counter it when you’re e.g. not the person doing recruiting and ignoring CVs with ethnic-sounding names on them?). I think this being so early in this big publishing wave she had to perhaps be more conciliatory, I wonder if she’d write it the same now.
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