consider my mind blown!!
i always know a book is truly exceptional when its new and unfamiliar content instantly feels obvious. when the knowledge it provides shifts everything i know ever so slightly, making it impossible to imagine ever ‘unknowing’ it again.
it is a profound and lasting feeling. and it is rare. but that’s exactly how i felt when i finished emma dabiri’s ‘what white people can do next’.
in this almost essay-like narrative, dabiri unveils race as a social construct—something invented rather than something natural that has always existed. she explores why she believes the concept of allyship can be problematic and instead introduces the idea of coalition-building, which she argues is a more effective approach.
while doing so, dabiri provides a system of knowledge through which to view the world, particularly its failures and where we, as humankind, remain stuck. suddenly, seeing the world through this lens makes so much more sense.
dabiri answered questions i hadn’t even dreamed of asking and articulated issues i had felt but wouldn’t have been able to put into words. again and again, i caught myself thinking, ‘this is so true’ or ‘she is so right’.
last but not least: i loved her voice throughout the narrative. it isn’t just strong or matter-of-fact. it’s fierce, it’s frustrated, it’s hopeful, it’s kind. it is all of these things, and it is entirely one of a kind.
