Reviews for Racism Explained to My Daughter

The average rating for Racism Explained to My Daughter based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-09-21 00:00:00 Hugh Smith Here's a little book in which Tahar Ben Jelloun try and explain to his ten years old daughter what racism is all about. In fact, he goes way beyond that only, since he also introduces her to questioning such as what does it mean to be a foreigner? What is discrimination? What are socio-cultural differences? Ethnic minorities? Ghettos? Genocides? Colonialism?... In a word: all the notions one may think of when dealing with such an issue. Constant questions are firing out from his curious daughter, a firing so intense that it is, sometimes, kind of difficult to not loose the plot (eg cloning, a topic one may wonder why it's even included in here)! But, her confusion reflects, in my opinion in any case, the confusion existing even among grown up themselves. A lot of them, by the way, would do themselves a favour in picking this sharp little read! In societies more and more multicultural, or at least more and more ethnically mixed, a lot of prejudices are here blown apart as they should. In fact, I can only point out to only one defect: Tahar Ben Jelloun claims having written here a 'clear and neutral' book. I personally can't see how one can be 'neutral' in handling such a topic! He is, about, at times frankly annoying; for instance when he claims that there is no scientific evidence supporting racism, or that only a distorted view of religions may lead to racism (the 'holy texts', according to him, are opposed to it). I am sorry, but no. From IQ testing and their controversies, to a whole part of socio-biology, there still is a murky 'science' still serving as a cornerstone to racial ideologies (eg let us just think about the recent blunders of a past Nobel Prize winner...). As for religion, the Bible, for example, contains quotations that justified, up to quite recently, both racial segregation in the United States and the apartheid regime in South Africa. From then on, to claim that racism is only a by-product of 'fear, ignorance, and stupidity' is over-simplistic; a naïve wishful thinking which therefore cannot help in fighting it accordingly. Despite it all, here's a book worth reading - both for grown ups, to dispel confusing prejudices; and for children, as it can serve as a great starting point to very serious conversations on such a hot topic.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-29 00:00:00 Joshua King 3.75/ 5stars Yay! I read a French book ! And understood more than half :D I'm gonna be completely honest wit you guys, I would totally write my review in French, but I have a feeling I'm gonna totally screw up and butcher it and all of you who speak French will just be like "why?" So yeah. English it is. Full RTC