while you're ahead…

I can honestly say that I have never read so much non fiction as I’ve done recently and it has opened a new world for me. A word of more books I want to read, which is quite depressing because … there just isn’t enough t.i.m.e., and a world of things I don’t know which is equally as demoralising because the more you know… the more you understand you don’t know.

It’s hopeless.

The Good immigrant is another one of those books that everyone should read. I grew up in a small town in Northern Italy, whiter than white. Now I live in a part of England which is also really white… it’s easier to think that racism is elsewhere, that white priviledge doesn’t affect me, that I don’t have any race bias in my thinking… that I’m open and free from prejudices… guess what? WRONG.

And you’d be wrong too, I bet ya.

This book is a collection of essays that will really open your eyes to what is really going on around us. It’s a big wake up call. The range of writers from different backgrounds and the different subject they tackle keep you hooked and are well written and real. Seriously I was totally taken in. And ashamed about my entitled indifference and ignorance. And heartbroken.

There’s a lot of work to be done people. Roll your sleeves up and let’s go.

Favourite quotes:

But tradition is an inescapable trait of our communities – those who cannot rely on land or home for their identity. Our parents, and their parents, and theirs before, have little more to leave us beyond their names, beyond their language. We have inherited the knowledge that community means to remain. When we cannot return to our homes – or are waiting for them to be taken from us again – we must get the hang of how to recreate it elsewhere. (Chimene Suleyman)

It’s easy to cling to a position of privilege when it acts as protection from the ever-present danger of being seen as outsiders, but playing to the myth of the ‘good immigrant’ does not lead to real equality, or even acceptance. Breaking out of the ‘model minority’ box and looking beyond that statues towards humanity and freedom is the long game. (Wei Ming Kam)