Review

White Tears, Brown Scars by journalist Ruby Hamad is a powerful book about racism and feminism

By Zoya Patel
September 7 2019 - 5:00am
Author Ruby Hamad. Picture: Supplied
Author Ruby Hamad. Picture: Supplied

White Tears, Brown Scars was written off the back of a viral article that Ruby Hamad published on The Guardian. The article, titled How white women use strategic tears to silence women of colour, highlighted a pattern of behaviour Hamad observed when conflict occurred between white women and women of colour, where the former would use their distress to force the latter into the position of "angry brown woman", discrediting their argument and positing the white woman as the victim. Hamad argued that this strategy meant white women never had to acknowledge their racism, and instead were able to continue to inhabit the role of victim, while ignoring the unique oppressions suffered by women of colour at the hands of whiteness.

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