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

Colonialism is a practice of military, political, economic, and social domination involving one country subjugating a people or area, usually for financial gain. Colonizers may impose their laws, language, religion, and other cultural practices on the people they colonize. Modern European colonialism began in the 15th century when European powers first gained a foothold in the New World. At its height, the British colonial empire included holdings in modern Ireland, North America, the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent.

The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to provide an analytic framework to understand how different social and political identities intersect to create modes of privilege and discrimination. These identities include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, caste, disability, and physical appearance. Intersectional feminism fills gaps in traditional white feminism by considering the entwined impact of race and gender on the lives of women of color. As an intersectional feminist, Eddo-Lodge is often at odds with white feminists who fail to advocate for women of color.

Sepoys are Indian soldiers who served Britain and other colonial powers. Over one million sepoys fought for Britain during World War I in return for freedom from colonial rule. The British failed to provide sepoys with adequate equipment, underpaid them, and reneged on their promise of freedom. The mistreatment of sepoys underscores the brutality of colonialism, a legacy that continues to play out in contemporary Britain.

Structural racism refers to the racial biases interwoven into the laws and regulations of societies and their institutions, such as the criminal justice system, healthcare, employment, and housing. Eddo-Lodge defines structural racism as “a form of collective behavior, a workplace culture supported by a structural status quo, and a consensus, often excused and ignored by authorities” (61). Structural racism is collective and difficult to pin down. It focuses on power and the collective impact of bias rather than on personal prejudice. The refusal of white people to acknowledge the existence of structural racism prompted Eddo-Lodge to pen Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.