Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Structural racism permeates all aspects of British society, yet white people have been slow to recognize the extent of the problem. Indeed, many white people deny the existence of structural racism altogether. This denial prompted Eddo-Lodge to write Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. The blog and book open with a bold statement about her intentions: “I’m no longer engaging with white people on the topic of race. Not all white people, just the vast majority who refuse to accept the legitimacy of structural racism and its symptoms” (ix).

Eddo-Lodge uses examples from the criminal justice system and affordable housing to explain race-based systemic inequities. In Chapter 2, she discusses the 1993 murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence in London by a gang of young white men. Stephen’s parents sought justice for their son, only to receive pushback from law enforcement. The police and Crown Prosecution Service refused to charge the suspects despite statements from an eyewitness (one of Stephen’s Black friends). Three years later, during a private prosecution launched by Stephen’s family, a judge ruled that evidence from the eyewitness was invalid. In 1997, however, a public inquest found that five suspects were guilty of killing Stephen in “an unprovoked racist attack” (58).