Reni Eddo-Lodge: It was doomed from the start

Today’s episode is the first of a 3-part discussion on race, class and education in the UK. A 3-part conversation that really is the basis for the theme of season 3 - arts, anti racism and social change. 

We kick off the discussion with journalist and author of Sunday Times bestselling book Why I’m No longer to White people About Race Reni Eddo-Lodge

Reni’s 2017 book was birthed out of a 2014 blog post of the same name sharing her experiences of what I would call almost a kind of racial emotional fatigue - which we touch on in our interview. But as you can imagine Reni has been talking about this book for a couple years which she says at this point is very much nostalgic for her. So in fact we talk more about the controversial report on race that was commissioned by UK Prime minister Boris Johnson and written by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. It was published around the time I interviewed Reni at the end of April to much public contestation and we get into that. 

We also talk about mental health and managing what Reni describes as soft liberal racism - as another friend mine said, navigating racism in this country is like running anti virus software all the time. We talk about how isolating racism can be and that writing this book which Reni likes to shorten to ‘Why I’m’ has actually created a connectedness and has given her a global community. We talk about navigating success, how it can be a mixed blessing, the challenge of finding the creative space to make new work and we talk about Reni’s eclectic taste in music! 

Guest: Reni Eddo-Lodge

Title: ‘It was doomed from the start’ 

Website, IG: @ZoeWhitley, Twitter: @renireni

Songs on playlist: Beatles, Blackbird, DMX, Ruffryders anthem; MNEK; Rupaul’s Dragrace UK; 21 seconds So Solid Crew

Other references by Reni: British Medical Journal response to Race Report, The Spectator Article

Mia Mingus: Website & IG: @mia.mingus

Learn more about our Season 3 sponsors Airbnb and Project Lighthouse: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/against-discrimination