BRIT(ISH):
On Race, Identity and Belonging
By Afua Hirsch
Vintage. 384 pages. £8.15
ISBN 978 1 784 705 039
I don’t normally review secular books, but the issue of race doesn’t go away! And it is very important that we all engage – talking and learning so that we can respond Biblically and with understanding.
This book is a very readable broad overview of the issues (although the chapter ‘Beauty’ really needs an ‘18’ warning: of course sexual attitudes are relevant, but could have been covered differently).
Afuah writes for the Guardian and appears regularly on Sky News, etc. Her research is extremely thorough, and she writes engagingly, blending her personal story (mixed race, British born, and privileged) with those of others from a wide variety of backgrounds. Issues of identity, abuse and ongoing discrimination are interwoven with a broad perspective of Blacks in British history (from Roman times), legacies of the British Empire, and discrimination shown in general society, education, employment, class attitudes, the media, etc.
This book is a fascinating, though not always comfortable, read. It will inform you, and help you to engage positively with church friends, neighbours and colleagues, to avoid some of the well-meaning but unhelpful commonplaces, and show we are engaging thoughtfully and positively, to the honour and glory of the God who made us all in His image.
