Anita Rani has written on the front cover of this book ‘I want everyone to read this book’ and I wholeheartedly agree with her.
With twenty one different essays from writers, actors, comedians and more, The Good Immigrant takes a stark, stinging and sometimes humorous look at representation from all angles.
Comedian, Nish Kumar both laughs and despairs at being labelled a Muslim in a meme despite never being involved with the faith. Writer, Nikesh Shukla analyses the importance of misusing language after a group of students repeatedly taunted him with the word ‘Namaste’. Actress, Miss L. shares the harrowing moment she was told she would only ever be ‘the wife of a terrorist’ by her drama school teacher. Teacher, Darren Chetty reminisces about the children in his primary school class saying, ‘but I thought stories had to be about white people.’
Chetty’s essay struck a chord with me, because I felt pure sadness at the fact that a year 2 class, children aged 6/7 who will be the future of this country, didn’t even question why the stories being read to them only included white people.
Every single essay in this book has opened my eyes to sides of racism that I wasn’t even mindful of. I’ve learnt about the caste system in Indian culture, how the British imposed classifications on Indian people to create a concept of respectability. My eyes have been opened to the fact that Chinese people are more likely than any other minority group to be subject to racial harassment. I’ve come to understand the impact of tokenism that ethnic minorities are facing in creative careers.
The nail has been hit on the head with the title; if you want to be accepted as an immigrant in Britain, then you better be a good immigrant, and to be a good immigrant means working 10x as hard to earn your place in society.
Reni Eddo-Lodge (author of Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race) writes ‘Respectability politics is the dogged belief that if black people just shape up, dress better and act right, racists would suddenly have a dramatic change of heart, and stop their racist ways.’
But this isn’t down to them, it’s down to us. So when Anita Rani says everyone should read this book, she’s right, because we need to cut the racism, cut the slack and cut the divide in this country.
- Katie S x
Comments